


The last victory

by BookDreamCatcher



Category: Kung Fu Panda (Movies)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-09
Updated: 2021-03-05
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:01:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 23
Words: 28,795
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27473965
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BookDreamCatcher/pseuds/BookDreamCatcher
Summary: Everything seems to be perfect for Lord Shen and his family, but somebody wants revenge and plans to destroy everything in Shen’s world. He even manages that Po loses favor with Shen after a tragic accident and rekindles old buried guilt feelings of pain from the past. [Sequel after “The last chance” and “The last war”.]
Kudos: 8





	1. Presentiment of danger

_There stood a figure. Around him, it was dark and cold. Snow fell down. But the snow wasn't white. It was black. Flakes of ashes in dark clouds. Around him lights of fire like from far away._

_She narrowed her eyes to see more details about the strange figure._

_But the person had turned his back to her._

_With hesitation, she came closer. Very slowly and carefully._

_When she had almost reached the figure, she reached out her hand._

_Suddenly the figure spread his wings. The bird grew bigger. His feathers looked burned like after a firewall had hit him._

_The woman winced and fell back._

_The eyes of the bird glowed like fire._

_He started to fly; his long tail feathers swung in shreds._

_The woman stopped breathing when the bird formed to a peacock._

" _Who is that?" She asked in her mind._

Shen, is that you… or anybody else?

_The flying burned peacock caught her glance and swooped down on her with a loud peacock cry._

* * *

With shock, she opened her fear filled eyes. Quickly the old goat sat up in her bed.

Was that a dream?

With trembling hands, she palpated the blanket.

No, she didn't live in a dream. But the pictures before had been a dream. A nightmare.

"Grand aunt?" a man's voice asked. "Everything okay?"

A little sheep in a dark violet pajama robe came into her room and looked at her with worried eyes.

"No, Liang. It was just…"

She looked around. Everything was like before she had fallen to sleep.

"Just what?" Her grandnephew asked.

The soothsayer sighed in relief.

_It was just a dream. Just a dream._

"Nothing," she said. "Go back to bed. It has been just the meal from the dinner."

Liang inclined his head, but then he shrugged. "Well then, good night."

"Good night."

He disappeared. She tried to sleep again, but she couldn't find peace. Finally, she stood up and walked to the window where she had a nice view over the roofs of Yin Yan City. The new home city of Lord Shen.

She closed her eyes. Again these pictures of the burned peacock.

_No, it was a dream, it was just a dream._


	2. The colorless garden

The first rays of the sun touched the earth like the spring could never have made it better. Yin Yan City was peacefully nestled between the mountains of the Mianyang Mountains. The construction sites around the houses had almost disappeared and the construction work was as good as complete. After a cold winter, the first warm weeks came and in some places spring flowers were sprouting between rocks.

The spring came much earlier this year than last year. But that could only be fine with a person who was sneaking through the private rooms of the palace corridors. He stopped in front of a door and opened it as quietly as possible. Then he tiptoed across the room, where there was a large bed on the wall. One half was empty, but a sleeping figure lay on the other site.

The person who crept in smiled at this sight. He had got up very early that morning, always careful not to wake her up.

Now after a while he had come back and slipped over to the sleeping woman in the bed. He held his breath as he looked at the peahen. She was beautiful. Even when she was sleeping and he couldn't see her silver eyes.

He leaned down gently and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. Then he left the room quickly and quietly.

As soon as the door was closed the peahen began to blink and opened her eyes. With a comfortable moan, she turned on her other side and felt beside her. But the other side of the bed was empty.

She raised her head in surprise. The one who usually lay next to her every morning was no longer there. Instead, a piece of paper adorned the pillow.

Reluctantly, she took it in her hand and read: _"I'm waiting for you in the south courtyard."_

Still a bit sleepy, she rubbed her head and seemed to be a little confused. Otherwise he would never allow her to go into the south courtyard. But despite her doubts, she still trusted that he was serious and got out of the bed.

After putting on a fresh robe, she left the room and went down the corridors until she came to one of the many exits of the palace, which led into the south courtyard.

She screwed up her eyes when the bright morning light blinded her a little. As always, her world consisted of black and white colors only. Sometimes she cursed her color blindness, but other things in life balanced out those mistakes.

As she walked down a gravel path, she kept looking around. He wanted to wait here for her, but where?

Her gaze fell forward. Otherwise, she was never allowed to come here. She hadn't asked him why. If he didn't want to say something, she never pushed him more.

She craned her neck. From here the path ran to a free area that had consisted of stone slabs months earlier. But now there was something completely different. She narrowed her eyes again to see it better.

A crunch behind her made her sit up and took notice.

She was startled when two hands covered her eyes from behind.

But when she heard a gentle "good morning" and he snuggled against her back, she quickly calmed down.

"Good morning," she breathed back with a smile and clasped his hands on her face.

Then he turned her around and both looked at each other.

"Why so mysterious?" Yin-Yu asked and stroked the white lord's wings, which still held her at the waist.

Shen smiled. "Just wait. Close your eyes."

She did it. She trusted him blindly.

Then he took her hand, turned her around again and led her down the path.

She did her best not to be tempted to blink. He shouldn't be disappointed by her.

After a while he stopped, and she did the same.

He released her.

She persisted.

"Open them."

With tension, she opened her eyes and had to hold her wings to her mouth.

They stood in a neat little square. All around stood stone sculptures of peacocks, finely cut trees in all sorts of shapes and between them either ornate gravel, which made beautiful patterns scattered in waves on the ground, or plants that had no flowers, it was still too cool for that, but even theirs leaves had wondrous patterns. A little further away there was a small bridge over an artificially created river and a small pond.

She was so caught up in the gaze that she barely felt his hands on her shoulders and massaged them gently.

"Happy wedding day."

She turned to him. She still wasn't able to make a sound.

Smiling, Lord Shen came closer with his face. "Did you really think I'd forget our wedding day?"

"No, no," she said quickly. "I just didn't expect such a wonderful gift."

She let her gaze wander again as Shen waved his wing around.

"The stones have no color. Everyone should see everything as you can see it. Nobody should feel superior to you."

He pointed to a group of plants. "Even the flowers are special. As soon as they bloom, it is not the color that decides, but their shape. But you won't be able to admire them until summer. And in winter you can continue to enjoy the architecture of the sculptures and stone decorations."

Yin-Yu couldn't help but fall on his neck. The lord winced when he felt tears on his neck. She hugged him tightly.

The lord did not ask her to say "thank you", but she breathed it out from the bottom of her heart. "Thank you."

* * *

It was a while before they left the garden and returned to the palace. As soon as they arrived at one of the large halls, others were waiting for them there, too.

Yin-Yu was not particularly surprised when her children Xia and Sheng came up to her and gave her a warm hug.

"Congratulations," they congratulated.

"Thank you," her mother replied with overcome by joy.

When they broke away from their hugs, the siblings came closer to their father. But with a somewhat reserved gesture.

"You too, father," Xia began. "We wish you all the best."

She bowed, while Sheng emulated her deeds.

The white lord returned the bow and put his hand on each wing of them.

It was still a little difficult for him to consider them as his. He had only met them one year ago and were still like strangers to him at times. Still, he tried very hard to lock them into his heart.

"Many thanks."

Actually, he hadn't intended to look so formal, but he just couldn't bring himself to hug them in front of others.

But the two siblings did not take offense that and stepped aside to give the other the opportunity to congratulate the couple, although there were not many. More precisely, only two, which consisted of Soothsayer and her great-nephew Liang.

Liang started and bowed respectfully.

"I wish you a contented and happy life in this kingdom."

The married couple smiled gratefully, only Yin-Yu said a word. "Thank you very much for your loyal service."

Then the old goat came up to them and took a wing in each of them.

"I wish you all the best for the future."

Shen raised his eyebrows. "Future?"

"It's just a saying," Liang added quickly.

His great-aunt nodded gratefully to him. But that doesn't necessarily calm Shen. It wasn't lost on him how tight she had squeezed his hand when she uttered these words.

"Is anything…?"

But the goat just smiled at him.

"Just make the best of your life," she added hastily, and let go of them. "I think you have a lot to talk about today."

"Why so?" Yin-Yu wanted to know.

"Well," Shen began. "Because today is a special day for us, we will spend the whole day alone together."

"Alone?"

"Except tonight. There will be a nice firework display to crown the day."

He took her hands in his and looked at her as if he was expecting something from her.

"And?"

She looked at him questioningly. "What?"

Now the peacock seemed confused and inclined his head. "Well, I thought ... what do you have ... planned for today?"

Suddenly she giggled and took his face. "Did you think I'd forget to give you something for our wedding day?"

Shen narrowed his eyes skeptically. "Well… not necessarily. I just thought…"

She leaned over and whispered something in his ear. "I'll show you tonight."

He looked at her in surprise. "Tonight? Why not now?"

Yin-Yu looked at the floor in embarrassment. "Well, it's very ... private."

Shen raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Oh, okay, but haven't we done that before very often?"

She smiled. "It's a special gift."

The lord had to see that there was no point in asking any further.

"Okay."

Then he took her by the hand and led her away from the others. "We take breakfast in our room and dinner for us alone in the evening."

They snuggled together. The others looked after them with glee.

Only Liang was the only one who noticed how his great-aunt looked worriedly after the couple. His astonishment increased when he watched how she shook her head gently.

_It was just a dream._


	3. A special gift

A little nervous, the white lord smoothed the feathers on his neck and head. He was standing in one of the palace corridors, where many mirrors adorned the walls.

It was early in the night. After Lord Shen and Lady Yin-Yu had finished their dinner, they had spent the time to admire the announced fireworks. After the last festivities, they retired to their bedroom. But before Yin-Yu could say a word, Shen said he wanted to take a little walk and had left the room quickly again.

The white lord sighed. He wasn't as proud of his color as his father was. But who cared? He was just something very special, as his mother sometimes had told him.

He took a deep breath and looked at himself in the mirror again. "Alright," he said to himself, putting the fingertips of his wings together. "Whatever she wants, be yourself, be yourself. You are not doing this for the first time."

Of course, they had spent the nights together in bed a lot lately, but what kind of special gift was she going to give him today? He couldn't explain it. What did she expect from him?

"Dad?"

Shen whirled around. Xia had appeared out of nowhere and had been watching her father for a while.

"What are you doing?" She continued with her question.

"Uh ... nothing at all. I…" He shook his head quickly. "What are you doing here? Why are you not in bed yet?"

"Dad, I'm over 18. I don't have to go to bed early anymore."

"Anyway. Your mother and I would like to have some silence."

Xia rolled her eyes. "Yes, yes. I understood. I have to disappear into my room so that you and mother can play your adult games."

Shen blushed deeply under his feathers. But then he shook his head.

"Go to your room!"

Xia turned away with a mocking smile. "Of course, as always. I wish you a nice wedding day."

She laughed when her father twisted his mouth. But the young woman didn't want to make him angry and walked away quickly.

Shen looked after her in confusion. Then he snorted. "Children."

* * *

With slow footsteps, Shen came closer to Yin-Yu's and his private room. He took a last deep breath before opening the door. The peahen sat on a chair in front of a mirror and combed her feathers.

With a gentle smile, the peacock closed the door behind him and walked towards her.

She saw him in the mirror, which is why she didn't turn around.

Her posture stiffened as he put his hands around her from behind and kissed her neck.

"You're beautiful enough," he cooed and stroked her body.

She closed her eyes with relish and huddled against him. Then she got up and took his hands.  
"Come on, I have to tell you something."

Telling? Shen didn't know what to make of it and wondered what she meant by that. Was that a new code word for a special thing?

When she led him over to the bed, his suspicions seemed to be confirmed, that is why he didn't struggle.

As soon as they were on the bed, she sat on one side while Shen took a seat across from her. Yin-Yu seemed a little nervous, which initially surprised Shen. She was never so shy when they had their special moments together. On the contrary. Sometimes she was even wilder than him.

"Well, we've many sleepless nights lately," she began hesitantly. "And there were wonderful moments. Do you remember?"

He smiled. "Yes."

Then he leaned forward and pushed her onto the bed gently so that she was laying on her back and he was over her. First, he kissed her on the beak then down to her neck.

A purr escaped her mouth and the white lord thought he was sure to have guessed her special gift.

But the next moment she began to resist.

"Shen?"

"Yeeeesss?"

He couldn't stop kissing her.

"Shen, I have to tell you something..."

"Yeeeesss."

"No, no." She raised her hands and pushed him away. "I have to tell you something."

Shen looked down at her in deep surprise. "Telling me something? Can't that wait?"

He was about to bend down to her again, but she held him up.

"No, it's important."

A little disappointed, he climbed down from her and adjusted his robe.

"Well, what do you want to tell me?"

His confusion heightened when she took his wings in hers and rubbed her fingers against them gently. She looked at him so warmly that it almost scared him.

"Shen?"

"Yes?"

"Darling."

Shen was getting suspicious. "What is it?"

With a nervous smile, she stopped caressing his hands. "I... I'm pregnant."


	4. The lost helmet

"NO! THIS CAN'T BE!"

Stunned Po stared at the small platform.

Empty. The pedestal was empty.

But the helmet had been there a short time ago.

The panda looked around in panic on all sides.

Shifu would have thrown a tantrum if he sees that the helmet, that had arrived here at the Jade Palace in the Hall of Warriors last week...

The panda spun around. Something had fallen to the floor.

He looked in the direction of an overturned metal armor. And the people who had brought down this armor out of understanding stood there like wax figures.

For several seconds everyone was frozen until the panda finally got it.

"Fung!"

The crocodile leader hastily hid the helmet behind his back.

"And goodbye."

With that, he and his gang members quickly disappeared through the half-open door.

The panda immediately dived afterwards. "Hey! Give the helmet back!"

"Sorry, I needed a new helmet," Fung shouted backwards during the race. "My old one is broken."

"This is General Sàshuǎng's helmet!"

The crocodile laughed. "General Sàshuǎng is dead. It won't hardly bother him if someone else takes care of it."

They were hardly out of the gate when the crocodile stumbled against another crocodile and the helmet flew in a high arc forward, down the mountain over the steps.

Fung watched in shock. "My hat!"

"General Sàshuǎng's hat!" Po corrected as he ran past.

But the crocodile leader did not want to have his new helmet taken away so easily and they both rushed forward. Po just touched the helmet with his fingertip, but was knocked to the ground by crocodile Fung. The hat bounced off the hand and made another arc, where it sailed merrily down the mountain.

* * *

Unbeknownst to anyone, a black bird fluttered with difficulty halfway up the mountain.

"I'm not used to such stretches anymore," he gasped.

Suddenly something came racing towards him at breakneck speed and pulled itself over him. The crow croaked loudly as the helmet dragged him down.

Po and Fung were still in their helmet-hunting fever and hadn't noticed the trapped crow in the helmet, so that Po gave the helmet and the crow a huge kick when it almost hit the steps.

"It's mine!" Fung shouted.

"No", Po corrected him decidedly. "It belongs in the Hall of Warriors ..."

"But not for much longer!"

Fung kicked the helmet next and so it flew all the way down the stairs until they finally reached the village.

During the next scuffle, the helmet was again thrown high into the air. With open hands Po ran back and forth and tried to catch the helmet, but was pushed aside by two crocodiles at the next moment.

The helmet landed in Fung's hands, while the crow, also falling from the sky, landed in the mouth of his buddy, who had opened his jaw out of sheer amazement.

"Oops, I think something fell between my teeth."

Po ran forward and kicked him in the stomach. The crocodile's mouth opened and Po reached in and pulled the crow out.

"Excuse me, buddy."

Gently he set the dazed black bird down on a stone.

"Well, and now to..."

But the sentence got stuck in his throat. The place was empty. And the crocodile gang gone.

"Hey!"

Immediately Po took up the chase as the crocodile gang ran through the streets in triumph.

"Mine!" Fung exclaimed enthusiastically, holding up the helmet. "Mine, mine, mi..."

"Not a bit of it."

The crocodile gang froze when the Furious Five appeared in their way.

Fung was the first one, who found the language again. "Uh, we thought you were..."

"Great, guys," Po called out of breath. "That was great timing. Well, come across with the helmet!" Po took another fighting stance. "Or do you want to mess with us?"

Fung didn't feel like doing that today and angrily threw the helmet to the ground.

"Damn it!"

"Doesn't matter", the crocodile Gahri reassured him. "Then we'll look for a new hat somewhere else."

Fung had calmed down suddenly. "Yes, maybe even a nicer one than this one."

With that, the crocodile gang left them discussing.

With relief, Po picked up Sàshuǎng's helmet. "Thanks, guys. That was pretty close. But why are you back from the meeting with Shifu so early?"

Tigress shrugged her shoulders slightly. "Maybe because he suspected you might need some help."

Po twisted his mouth. "It wonders me that I was not allowed to be there. What was this meeting about?"

"Just a few little things," Monkey replied quickly. "Nothing special. After all, it was a good thing that you were careful in the Jade Palace. Otherwise, the helmet would have been gone."

"Oh yes, the helmet."

With pride, Po held the helmet over his head. But shortly after his friends looked at him with shock.

"Po, the helmet looks a bit," Monkey answered hesitantly. "How should I say? Something used."

"What do you mean?"

Quickly Po held the helmet in front of his eyes and examined it closely. Indeed, one of the prongs on the side of the helmet opening had a distinct crack.

"Oh, maybe that can be repaired," stuttered Po. "That's just a small flaw."

At that moment the prong broke off.

"A very, very small visible flaw."

Quickly Po picked up the part again, fiddled around in a corner of a house and patched the prong back on with a kind of dough.

"Do you see! As good as new! Nobody will notice that."

"What shouldn't you notice?"

Po almost let fall the helmet when, out of nowhere, Shifu appeared next to him.

"Oh, Master Shifu! Oh, I mean ... nothing should be noticed... it was all just a ..."

At that moment someone cleared his throat.

All eyes turned to the crow.

"Who is that?" Mantis asked.

"Oh, that... uh... that is..." But this time Po had to pass. "Dunno."

The crow seemed to have recovered well from the stormy greeting of the village and bowed politely. "My name is Takeo and I..."

"Takeo?" He was interrupted by Po. "That's not a Chinese name, is it?"

The bird cleared its throat again. "My family is from Japan, but I was born in China."

"Oh, all right."

"I have a message for the dragon warrior," the crow continued quickly.

"That's me!"

Po pointed to himself.

The crow narrowed its eyes for a brief moment, as if he was eyeing the introduced dragon warrior suspiciously. But then he shrugged.

"Fine. I have a letter from Yin Yan City."

"Yin Yan City," Po repeated calmly. But then he pricked up his ears. "Yin Yan City? Oh! Something happened? An attack? An earthquake? Something like that happens all the time..."

Without batting an eye, Takeo took out a rolled-up piece of paper and held it out to the panda. "Why don't you read it through first?"

Po paused. "Oh, yes, yes, of course."

He took the scroll and opened it.


	5. The invitation

"DAAAAAD!"

Mr. Ping almost dropped the knife. The gander was chopping a few radishes when Po had screamed through the window into the kitchen from nowhere.

"Po! Good gracious, what happened?!"

"I've got an invitation! I've got an invitation!"

Po jumped over the kitchen table, grabbed Mr. Ping's wings, and hopped around the kitchen with him. The gander didn't understand anything anymore.

"Po? What's going on?"

Finally, Po came to a standstill with his wild dance.

"Like I said, I've got an invitation."

"An invitation?" With difficulty, Mr. Ping freed himself from the grip of his "son". "What kind of invitation?"

"For a birthday. - Well, half-birthday or almost-birthday."

"For whom?"

"I don't know the names yet. They haven't been able to choose one yet. At least not as long as they aren't hatched..."

"Okay, now, slowly, slowly, Po," Mr. Ping contained the dragon warrior's enthusiasm. "Now tell everything from the beginning..."

Po took a loud, deep breath. "Okay, so ... um."

Now Po had to sort his thoughts first, too, before he could continue.

"Well, it all started today when I had to catch General Sàshuǎng's helmet again. On the way, a black bird crossed my way that actually came from Japan, or more precisely, his family, but he grew up in China. His name is Takeo and he handed me an invitation by her."

"By whom?"

"Yin-Yu. Do you still remember her?"

Mr. Ping smiled. "How could I forget all of this..."

At that moment, Po's enthusiasm came back.

"Yes! She wrote me a letter! She wrote that I was invited to come to her children's upcoming birthday!"

Mr. Ping had to digest this sentence first. "Upcoming? Children?"

"Yes!" With this cheer, the panda grabbed the gander again and whirled around with him. "She laid the eggs last month. And they will hatch soon. And I should be there!"

Gradually Mr. Ping understood. "Oh, Po! That's wonderful!"

The skipping continued until Mr. Ping thought of something else. "How did Shen react to that?"

Po stopped abruptly. "Uh, Shen?"

"Yes. The soon-to-be father," Mr. Ping instructed him and laughed. "As if he wasn't a father long ago. In that case, a soon-again-to-be father."

The panda let go of the gander and reread the letter. "Um, about Shen? She doesn't write anything about it. Only that she would be happy about my presence."

"Just her?" Mr. Ping raised his eyebrows. "Does that mean he wouldn't be happy about you?"

Po shrugged helplessly. "I don't know. She doesn't mention Shen with a single syllable."

He noticed Mr. Ping's worried expression and gave him an encouraging smile. "But don't worry. I'm sure he's happy about it, he just can't show it that way... you know. He just can't do that."

For once, Mr. Ping was satisfied with that and began to smile again.

"Well, I hope they don't want to hire you as a babysitter."

"As a babysitter?" Po lifted his head in surprise. "Do you really mean it?"

"Well, Po, I could very well imagine you as a babysitter," Mr. Ping joked and handled with a few pots. "After all, you understand children very well. And who knows…" With a mischievous smile, the gander turned back to the kitchen counter and continued to chop the vegetables. "And who knows… maybe you will find someone who you like very much. And then you will have children, too, and this one might one day take over the restaurant."

Po was less enthusiastic. "But dad. Can you really imagine that? A kitchen full of hungry little pandas?"

Mr. Ping froze. "Uh, maybe we should postpone these plans," he said finally. "Let's take care of others first."

"Well, may I consider the invitation accepted?"

Panda and gander looked at the window where the crow Takeo was standing.

Po cleared his throat. "Of course. I'll be on my way immediately."

"Without us again?"

"Oh, guys."

Remorseful, Po hid the letter behind his back when he met the reproachful looks of the Furious Five, who had appeared in the kitchen, too.

"That… it won't take long. Maybe it's only for a few days."

"I think they don't like that you're all alone with him again," Shifu said directly, who entered next to the five.

"With Lord Shen?" With a sigh, the panda stared at the letter. "But she invited only me. And by the way…" He continued the rest of the sentence, mumbled and quietly. "...I don't think that he would like to see my friends."

Inwardly, the panda slapped himself in the face. He didn't like talking about his best friends this way. But Shen didn't have good memories of the five.

"I'm really sorry, guys," Po apologized quickly. "I wish I could take you with me."

"That's okay, Po," Monkey said, although you could hear that he didn't like it either. "We can't do anything about that."

"In that case," Takeo raised his wing. "I will announce the imminent arrival of the dragon warrior in Yin Yan."

Po looked at him, still a little confused. "What... oh... uh... yes."

The crow bowed, then he fluttered away.

For a few seconds after that there was silence. Until Mr. Ping's feet left the kitchen in a hurry. "I'll pack you something to eat, Po!"

* * *

No sooner anyone in the village had noticed that Po was going on a voyage, many residents as possible had gathered to wish him all the best. For this reason, it took almost an hour until Po was finally able to say goodbye to the last one and finally to get to the master and his friends.

As soon as he stood in front of them, he searched for words.

"Well, well, I... I'll go then... well, all the best..."

"PO!" At that moment, Mr. Ping came running towards him with a backpack. "I've packed everything you need. And even this here."

Po looked at some panda figures in Mr. Ping's wings.

"Then these ones."

Next the gander held up a whole box of tea.

"Then this, a few fruits and a few sweets..."

"Dad!" Po interrupted. "Don't you think that it won't be a bit too much..."

"So what? On such an occasion you always have to take presents with you! And don't forget to give them my best congratulations..."

"Don't worry, I'll do," Po intervened and took the fully loaded rucksack.

"Po."

Surprised, Po turned to Tigress, who looked at him worried.

"Take good care of yourself."

With an uncomfortable feeling, the panda shouldered the rucksack. "Hey, there's nothing to it. Just a little excursion, nothing more."

He hugged her. Then he did the same to the others.

Before Shifu, however, he left it at a bow.

"Forgive me, master, that I have to leave you now..."

"Po, that's okay," the master reassured him.

Po nodded gratefully. "Thanks, master. Well then, all the best. See you."

Now Po was ready to leave. He made only a few meters, when Mr. Ping called out to him.

"Oh, Po! Po! PO!"

The panda turned around in surprise. "Yes, dad?"

"In all the excitement I forgot to ask. How many eggs did she lay?"

"Four."

After that hand waves and farewell calls followed.

Only Shifu looked pretty withdrawn. Hesitantly, the Furious Five stepped closer to him.

"Master?" Tigress began. "Do you think it could be what you told us this morning..."

Master Shifu raised his hand. "I just said that I suspect something bad. But maybe it has nothing to do with that."

"See you soon!" They heard Po call from afar.

Shifu looked at him thoughtfully. He just couldn't explain why he had the feeling that Po would even be back very soon again.


	6. Close-lipped and tensed

The snow had already melted in many places. All in all, it was very different when Po started his first trip to Yin Yan. It had been extremely difficult to cross the mountains because of the snow. In addition, he had traveled with Xia at the time, so at least it hadn't been so boring. Fortunately, it happened very quickly this time. And no sooner had he arrived in the Mianyang Mountains he almost jumped in high leaps over the path through the mountains.

He couldn't wait to be there. Mainly because so many questions were racing through his head. How would the children look like? Will they become like their father or like their mother? Would there be something great to eat there? What do they eat in the palace?

Po's daydreams were cut short when he came across two familiar figures.

"Heyho, how are you?" He greeted the two goats who guarded the way to the city in front of the hill. They only met him with disdainful eyes.

"It was clear," said one of them.

Po giggled. "Oh, I see we still know each other. Well then ... Don't worry, I'll find the way on my own, buddy."

With that, he walked past the guards with a trilling whistle.

Nobody prevented him, which surprised Po a little. But obviously everyone seemed to know of his coming.

When he finally climbed the last hill, he got a wonderful view of Yin Yan. All the construction sites were gone and a beautiful city covered the plateau. Freshly built, as if it had emerged from the ground.

When he finally broke away from this sight, he remembered the reason for his journey. He quickly ran down the hill until he came to the gate that was open this time. Everything looked like the last time, except for the hustle and bustle in the city center.

As soon as the city was finished, everyday city life returned with it. Dense streets, rickshaws, vendors, shops and especially people everywhere. Most of them were sheep, rams or goats. Everything was so tight that Po had real difficulties to come through them.

"Hey, could I..."

Po forced his way between two rams, which, however, could hardly move forward. The panda waved one hand helplessly as if he was stuck in the water.

Suddenly something fluttered over the panda and sat down on a pole by a house.

"Look, look," a voice croaked over him. "I knew I saw something."

In surprise Po looked up at Takeo. "Hey, nice to see you. Could you tell me where exactly to go to the palace? You can't see the city for the city anymore."

The crow nodded. "I'll take you there. Just follow me."

With that, he fluttered away into a small alley. The panda scurried himself laboriously out of the crowd and followed him. It went through narrow streets and side lanes so that they could avoid the crowded streets until they got to the palace wall that surrounded the palace in the inner part of the city. As he knew it from the last time, the city was strictly guarded. Rams and the like patrolled the walls, but they paid little attention to the panda.

It felt like an eternity for Po to cross the large parade ground until he finally reached the well-known stairs. Takeo sat down on a flagpole and watched with a shake of his head as the panda climbed the stairs with panting.

"Almost there," the panda snorted. "Almost done."

Finally, he reached the top and fell on his side. "Yeah! I made it!"

But he only took a breather a brief moment. Then he got up and walked to the door. He knocked until a small mini-window opened.

The doorman almost fell back when the panda called through the window. "HI THERE! I am…"

Po immediately recalled his temper and stood up politely. "The dragon warrior requests admission. Is it allowed to enter?"

The sheep, having recovered from the panda's greeting swirl, just looked at him, bored.

Po tried to put him in the right way.

"Dragon-warrior. Understood?"

"Do you have an invitation?" the sheep asked.

Po thought a moment. Then he remembered the letter.

"Uh, yes. Here it is ... Uh, just a moment."

With that Po shouldered down his rucksack and rummaged around in it.

"Uno momento ... it was here somewhere... definitely down again. Extremely far down... Aha! Yes, here you are!"

The panda waved the letter in his hand in front of the bouncer's nose. He just glanced at it, then he pushed a whole stack of papers into the panda's hand.

"Fill out these forms," commented the sheep dryly. "Name, age, origin, marital status, family tree, curriculum vitae, date of birth, place of birth, occupation..."

"Hey, couldn't that go a little faster?" Po asked a little angrily. "Before I have finished this stuff, the upcoming birthday will be over..."

"Po?"

At the next moment someone pushed the bouncer at the small door window away and a peahen appeared.

"Xia?" Po asked in surprise. "Is that you?"

But instead of an answer, someone opened the big door and the young peahen ran to meet him.

"Xia!"

"Po!"

Both fell around their necks until Po gently pushed her away to take a closer look. "Hey, have you grown?"

Xia gave a short laugh and nudged the panda from the side.

The greeting ended briefly when Po saw someone else standing in the door.

"Oh, hi!"

Sheng bowed. "Welcome, dragon warrior."

Po waved it off. "Oh, why so formal? Give me a high-five!"

For a moment the piebald white-green-blue peacock looked around uncertainly. But then he swung himself up and they both shook hands.

The panda nodded approvingly. "I see you've been practicing, haven't you?"

"Well." Sheng immediately resumed a dignified demeanor. "At least as long as nobody is looking."

Po looked around expectantly. "Where is your mother?"

"She's with the eggs," Xia replied.

"Oh, yes, of course. And…" Po looked around expectantly. "And he?"

"He?" Gradually it dawned on Xia who the panda meant. "He didn't have time to see you. But we will definitely meet him within the house. Come in."

They entered together, under the sullen glare of the doorman.

"You have to excuse him," Xia began. "He only started working with us yesterday."

Po smiled. "Oh, that's okay. What has happened lately?"

Xia shrugged. "Oh, not much. But you definitely have a lot more to tell."

Po giggled. "Would you be interested in a story about a helmet?"

While Po was walking through the corridors of the palace with Xia and Sheng, no one noticed how a shadow followed them and watched them closely.

* * *

The two siblings led the panda through the beautifully decorated halls. Did it just seem like that to Po, or was the house more embellished this time than on his last visit? Maybe because there were more women in the palace now.

"Okay, here we are," Sheng announced and stopped in front of a room door.

For Po, it was a sheer relief. "Great, my feet are already very hot."

Xia gently pushed the doors open.

There was a large bed in the room. And Yin-Yu sat in bed. The peahen lay or sat on many blankets. When she saw the panda, she got up a little.

"Oh, welcome."

The panda raised his hand exuberantly. "Hi! Oh dear, I was so staggered... by the invitation of course! I wasn't surprised that something like that would come. I don't mean that it was unforeseen."

The peahen smiled. "I'm happy to see you here."

"Oh." Po bowed respectfully. "Thank you so much."

But something still wondered him.

"Uh, may I ask something?"

Yin-Yu nodded. "Ask away."

"Where is... the father?"

"Here."

Po was so terrified that he screamed when he heard the familiar voice so close behind him. The panda held his chest, his heart pounding.

"My goodness! Sneaking up so close, I could have had a heart attack."

Shen narrowed his eyes dangerously with suspicion.

"Did you have a reason to be worried?" He asked suspiciously, that one might think that an escaped prisoner was standing in front of him.

"Why?" Po didn't know what to think of this icy welcome, which is why Yin-Yu tried to relax the situation.

"What he's trying to say is that he's already wondered whether you would come at all."

The panda smiled slyly. "Why not? On such an occasion, I would even cancel all wars. You only experience something like that once in a lifetime."

He giggled hoarsely and stepped a little away from the white lord, who was still watching him coldly. Finally, Po put his palms together and looked at Yin-Yu expectantly.

"Well, well... the reason why we're here... or I'm here... so... may I have a look?"

"Oh, of course."

She stood up and pushed aside a few blankets.

The panda looked in awe at the four eggs in the nest-shaped blankets.

"Wow, so that's really… they're beautiful. Can you already hear something inside?"

The peahen smiled "Now and then they kick."

"Oh, can you still sleep with that?"

He giggled cheerfully, but fell silent again when Shen didn't change his face. Then he leaned forward a little, in hope to hear something from the eggs, but he also noticed how Shen was moving closer to him at the same time.

"Uh ... heeellloooooo?" The panda whispered softly. But then he noticed something else when he saw a black Chinese mark on one of the eggs.

"What's that?"

"The eggs were numbered," Xia told him. "Mum, really wanted to record who was born first and when."

"Though it depends more on who hatches first," Sheng added.

Xia peered over at him, teasing. "You of all people have to say that. You were born just a minute before me."

"Oh, there is something else," Po intervened quickly and opened his backpack. "I brought you something..."

The panda froze instantly when a feather knife was held in front of his face, which the white peacock had pulled from his wing in a lightning speed.

Everyone stared at Shen in shock.

The peacock only relaxed when Po slowly took a tea box out of his backpack.

"Just a few gifts," Po mumbled meekly. "From my dad."

The white lord only narrowed his pupils very briefly, then he put the knife back in his feathers.

"I think we should go out to dinner now," Yin-Yu suggested hastily.

"Oh yes, I'm ravenous," said Po enthusiastically. "I have a real panda hunger. No, a big Kung Fu hunger."

"Fine, let's go then," Xia said and pushed the panda to the door.

Yin-Yu also left her berth and put a couple of blankets over the clutch.

"Can you leave them alone?" Po asked when they were through the door.

"From time to time I can get up," said the mother-to-be. "Always eating in bed is not always a pleasure either."

"Oh, yes, understandable."

They left the room together. Shen was the last one who followed them.

* * *

It became silent in the bedroom. Except for a movement in a hidden corner. A small, dark figure pushed the curtains aside a little. His gaze was fixed on the clutch in the bed, but did not dare to leave his hiding place.

_The time has not come yet. The guards are still too alert. But it's supposed to happen tonight._

* * *

"Well then a lot will change here, right?"

The panda turned to Shen with a smile, but Shen just lifted his beak and walked past him. Po looked after him in confusion.

"A little ... stiff today, right?"

"He's just a little tensed," Yin-Yu reassured him.

"Oh yes, after all, there are his first children... well... birth I mean."

The peahen sighed somewhat sadly. "Yes, indeed."

Po noticed a slight sad expression on her face and tried to ask something else.

"And? How did he react?"

Po didn't notice how excited he rubbed his palms together.

Yin-Yu stopped, put her hands together, and avoided his gaze. "Well... it was... he was..."

* * *

**A few weeks ago...**

_With a nervous smile, she stopped caressing his hands. "I... I'm pregnant."_

_Her grip on his hands tightened. But then she was startled when Shen pulled away from her, but immediately took her hands back in his._

_The peahen looked at him uncertainly. "Aren't you happy?"_

_As if the peacock had just awakened from a black-out, his voice sounded pretty disoriented. "Yes, yes... it's just..." He shook his head violently. "I'm glad. I'm really glad about it."_

_He smiled, but his eyes couldn't lie._

_Yin-Yu seemed to recognize this clearly. But before she could ask him, Shen suddenly jumped down from the bed. Then he pulled her down as well and picked her up._

" _Oh, stop, stop!" She called. "We have to be very careful now."_

" _Careful?" He let her down again. "Oh yes. Of course."_

_As soon as she was on solid ground again, they looked at each other in silence._

_It was difficult for her to define his gaze. It was a mixture of seriousness, slight joy, but also uncertainty and... She couldn't describe it exactly. Fear?_

_She couldn't complain about it. When she first reported to Xiang that she was pregnant, he only dismissed it with a simple, neutral "fine". There was no trace of emotions or the like. He had stayed as cold as a block of ice. Even after the eggs were laid._

" _Darling?"_

_Shen's voice brought her back from her dark thoughts._

" _Is everything alright?"_

_The white lord gently stroked her face._

_She quickly took his stroking hand._

" _Yes, everything is fine. And you are not disappointed?"_

" _Why should I?"_

" _Well, you've put so much effort into designing and building the garden. While I didn't do much…"_

_He interrupted her by placing his finger-feathers on her beak._

" _It's a lot more than what I was hoping for."_

_Obviously, he didn't want to talk about it anymore and he hugged her._

" _No," he continued gently. "I will always protect you and your children."_

_Yin-Yu didn't know whether she should reply to that. But Shen didn't give her a chance to think about it, but began to gently stroke her back and then her stomach._

* * *

"Uh, are you okay?"

Yin-Yu blinked in confusion. "What? Oh. Oh, yes. He took it well. He is pleased."

Po looked at her uncertainly for a brief moment. But then he smiled. "Then everything is fine."

* * *

Meanwhile, the sun had set. Soon it would go under.

The soothsayer had withdrawn on the terrace of the palace and watched the sunset in silence.

"Great-aunt?" Her great-nephew Liang called, who ran out to her. "The others want to have dinner. Don't you want to eat with us?"

But the goat didn't look away from the dying sun.

"Liang. I feel pain."

Her great-nephew looked at her in shock. "Are you not feeling well? Do you want to lie down?"

At that moment, the older woman lowered her eyes and her body also sagged a little.

"I feel pain in this house."

The little sheep looked uncertainly at the palace, but couldn't explain why his great-aunt was so nervous. Everything looked the same as always.


	7. Cold-warm dinner

"I really didn't notice that he stuck in the helmet." Po had to laugh after this sentence.

They were all sitting at a large table in the dining room. The panda couldn't help telling a few of his adventures and repeated the story of the stolen helmet.

"And then I had kicked him away. Oh. I hope he doesn't hold it against me. By the way, he's a nice bird."

With that, he took a bowl of soup and drained it.

Yin-Yu smiled. She shared one side of the table with her husband Shen, while Xia and Sheng sat around the corner next to her. Po sat facing them. Much to Shen's annoyance, who didn't seem to like the panda's presence at all. In the entire time since they started dinner, he hadn't said a word. Though Po kept throwing him smiles, the white lord didn't reply a bit.

Yin-Yu tried as best as possible to intercept the conversations at the table.

"Oh yes," she began when Po reported so cheerfully about Takeo's mishap. "He had served as a messenger in the city of Xiang for many years."

Po let the bowl sink. "In the city of Xiang?"

The peahen nodded. "Yes, after none of my family or his family took over the town administration, Takeo asked about work here one day. As he is a reliable messenger, we finally hired him. It wasn't easy for his family to gain a foothold in China."

"I can understand it well," Po said and reached for a bowl of rice.

Shen narrowed his eyes. Why had he let himself be persuaded to invite this panda? Whenever he saw him, a dark shadow came over him. Or was it all just a bad dream?

* * *

_**A few weeks earlier...** _

_The white peacock couldn't get it out of his head, why the soothsayer had clasped his hands so tightly when she wished them good luck for their future. He knew her too well for that. It wasn't her way of saying and suggesting anything for no reason. This became particularly clear to him when Yin-Yu announced her pregnancy. Should that be the luck for the future?_

_It had been a few days since then and Shen wouldn't let go of the thought. He had to talk to the soothsayer about it. Even if he had to force it out of her._

_The lord was arriving at her room when he heard her talking to her great-nephew. Shen didn't really want to listen, but when he heard the word "future" he pricked up his ears and stopped in front of the closed door._

" _If you're so sure it wasn't a glimpse into the future," he heard Liang say. "Then why are you so worried? I don't always have good dreams either."_

_The soothsayer sighed. "I don't know either, Liang. Something was bothering me. This burned plumage. And I've had such a terrible feeling ever since. As if something terrible is coming our way."_

_Her great-nephew let out a loud breath. "Oh aunt, what's the worst that could happen? If you are so unsure, why don't you just take a look into the future?"_

" _No, I can't," she said. "I vowed never to look into the future again. I don't want to be responsible again for causing calamity. I still feel complicit that an entire panda village had been killed after that. If it were not that ominous feeling. Something bad is in the air."_

_The peacock could hear her cane clattering on the ground. Her steps were extremely heavy._

" _No," the soothsayer muttered wistfully. "I just can't. I can't see it again. I can't."_

* * *

Shen blinked.

At the table, Xia and Sheng had started discussing whether it would be boys or girls.

"Well, a sister will definitely be there," Xia said acidly and crossed her arms.

"I can ask for a brother too, right?" Sheng said, offended.

Po took a chopstick and tapped it against a bowl.

"Hey guys."

The eyes of the two siblings wandered over to him.

"Has it ever occurred to any of you that it might be four girls or four boys?"

At first there was silence. Then Xia hit the table with her hands. "Mum! I want a sister!"

"I want a brother!" Sheng interrupted her.

Her mother smiled. "I'm sorry, but I don't have to decide that. Not even your father."

All eyes turned to Shen. Everyone was shocked when they noticed his icy stare. A cold shiver ran down Po's back and he tried it with a nice comment.

"Have you already thought of names?"

Shen's eyes narrowed.

"Is that all you can think of?!"

Silence fell. Shen was annoyed by the looks of everyone around. He got up and left the room.

"Um, maybe we should go to bed now," Yin-Yu suggested.

"That's a very good idea," Po agreed and stood up.

"Xia, could you show him his room?" the lady asked.

Your daughter nodded. "Okay."

Then her mother quickly left the dining room, too.

* * *

With a violent swing, Shen pushed open the doors to the bedroom. To his inner relief, the clutch lay unchanged in the blankets.

He kept standing in the room in silence and listened attentively when he heard footsteps behind him. He heard her approach. Then she stopped.

After about half a minute she started talking.

"Why, Shen?"

The white peacock didn't turn to face her yet.

"You know I don't like it that you invited him over to us."

The peahen sighed deeply. Shen sucked in air as she lowered her wings on his shoulders.

"I'm sure he won't hurt them."

He pushed her away.

"You don't know him as well as I do," he chipped off her words and first walked in a circle before turning to her.

She raised her hands carefully. "I know what you've heard from her," she continued in a soft voice when she remembered how Shen had told her about the soothsayer's words. Both had vowed not to hide anything from each other. And somehow Shen regretted that oath now. "But she hadn't mentioned a word about the panda. Maybe it doesn't mean anything."

But Shen wasn't so convinced and looked uncertainly at the eggs.

Almost pleading, she came up to him and cupped his face.

"Please calm down," she asked him. "At least try to stay calm."

She stroked his cheek. Finally, the peacock took a deep breath.

"Alright."

A little relieved, she gave him a kiss. Then she sat down on the blankets.

"Don't you want to go to bed, too?"

But Shen shook his head. "I'll keep watch tonight."

Yin-Yu wanted to say something, but she knew him well enough that nothing could stop him. So she let him.

Nobody noticed the dark shadow that lingered in a dark corner of the room and watched the couple.

* * *

"So this is your room," Xia said.

Po looked around excitedly. The room wasn't big, but the furniture was beautifully carved and decorated. On the side there was a nice, comfortable bed and a couple of tables and vases. Some of them even had cherry blossoms inside. And the window also offered a nice view.

"Wow, you don't dare to touch anything," Po joked and stroked a gilded table frame.

Xia nodded. "Yes, even in the guest room we didn't save." But then she had to yawn loudly. "I think I'll go to bed now, too."

"Oh yes, of course," Po said understandingly. "It was also a long day."

The girl nodded. "Yes, but I am usually never tired that quickly."

Po giggled. "We're all not getting any younger."

Xia grinned viciously and gave him a kick.

"Well then, good night."

"Good night, Xia."

Po waved to her until she closed the door. Then the panda stretched out on the bed and stared at the ceiling.

"Mm, actually I'm not really tired..."

In the next second he began to snore.


	8. Extremely aggravated theft

Gradually silence came to the palace. Po slept soundly in his room. Everyone else was in their beds, too. Even soothsayer, although she had a restless sleep as so often, much to the chagrin of her great-nephew.

Overall, everyone had a quick sleep. Also Yin-Yu, she fell asleep inside a few minutes. And even Shen, who was standing next to her, had to yawn several times. He shook his head wildly. Actually, he was rarely that tired. It was difficult for him to keep his eyes open. That wasn't normal.

He tried to distract himself. But no matter what he did, he always nodded off a little. Finally, the unusual tiredness gained the upper hand over his mind and he sank to the floor next to the bed.

* * *

Po was sleeping so deeply that he didn't even notice the creaking door, which slowly opened. A small, dark figure slipped in, but the panda didn't even begin to notice.

The little figure crouched like a shadow next to the bed and waved something over the panda's nose.

Po had to sneeze hard and was immediately awake, even if still drowsy.

"W-what... achoo!"

He hastily wiped his nose.

"Must be the dust here... or the flowers."

He paused when he thought he saw something darting through the door.

"Hello?" Hesitantly, the panda left the bed. "Is anybody there?"

He rubbed his face. But the quiet steps in the corridor in front of the door, that was no imagination.

"Is anybody here?"

Po found it extremely strange that no one answered him.

Was it a ghost?

The panda quickly jumped out of bed and ran to the door. The corridor was empty. But then he saw something disappearing around the corner.

"Hey! Is this going to be a midnight hide-and-seek game, or what?"

Po was tired, but this strange behavior had made him curious. Maybe it was a sleepwalker who had to be led back to bed.

The panda crept down the corridor on tiptoes.

* * *

The small black figure crept gently and past the white ruler who was sleeping on the floor.

The soporific didn't fail to work, he thought.

Now he could do his work without any problems. Carefully, he pushed the peahen aside and took out one egg after the other, which he then put in a basket.

* * *

For Po, it struck him as odd. It was extremely quiet in the palace. Maybe even too quiet. And when he passed two guards on duty in the hallway, he knew why. The two rams slept, which surprised Po extremely.

"Hey! Since when do you sleep on the guard post?"

But none of the guards woke up. Even when he waved his hands in front of their faces.

"Helloo?"

When that didn't work either, the panda shrugged his shoulders.

"Must have been a very tough day."

He paused. He stood not far from Shen and Yin-Yu's room now. But the door was open.

Why has someone left the door open at this time? It was a bit too drafty for fresh air.

"The poor one. She could catch a cold," Po thought and went to the open door quickly to close it. But as soon as he stood in the door frame, he stopped dead in his tracks.

* * *

After he had packed the last egg in the basket, he pulled his dark cape closer over himself, which not only covered his body, but also almost his entire head. Nobody was allowed to recognize him.

"Hey, what are you doing?"

The hooded figure turned. But no sooner he had seen the panda, he fluttered away, grabbed the basket and flew with it in his claws out through the open window.

"HEY, wait!"

Po stormed forward, but the little bird had already lifted and sailed outside.

The panda looked around in the room with excitement. The first thing he realized was that the eggs weren't there anymore. But it was more a mystery for him, that neither of the parents had woken up.

Hastily he leaned down to the white lord who was still lying on the floor.

"Shen?! Shen! SHEN! "

But as much as he shook the peacock, he didn't wake up.

"Okay, okay," the panda said to himself. "Just stay calm. Or don't you stay calm?"

Immediately it was clear to the panda that this was a kidnapping.

Quickly he ran back to the window. The bird was already a little way over town, but seemed to be having some troubles because he had to drag not only a cape but also to hold the basket.

Po drew his eyebrows together. Then he jumped on the windowsill and looked around for the nearest place to jump. A flag hung not far from him. Without further hesitation, he jumped out and swung himself on the flag in a huge leap over to the wall. There he came up with a hard landing. However, in anticipation of being held up by guards, everything remained calm. Po ignored this unusual situation and looked over the wall at the city. The bird with the basket was still in sight. With the next jump, the panda swung himself onto the next roof and from there he ran from roof to roof, always following the bird and catching up with it more and more.

When he thought he had almost reached him, he swung himself up on a wooden pole, tensed it, then he let it go. The force threw the panda through the air like a rocket. The bird with the basket had already reached the outer wall of the city. Po stretched out his hands. His fingertips touched the basket, but it wasn't enough. The gravity pulled him back down.

With a loud scream, the panda sailed to the ground, but he managed to cushion the impact with a terrific stance.

He looked around hastily. He stood at the city gate. But here the guards were sleeping too.

The panda shook his head in disbelief. But there was no time for a closer examination. Panicked, he searched the sky. He had lost sight of him. Where was the thief? Or more precisely, the kidnapper?

He raced up the hill as fast as he could. When he finally got up there, he stopped dead.

In the place where the two guards normally stood, there lay only two shadows. And they slept.

Po was slowly starting to get really scared. The shock spread inside him when he saw the dark, flying shadow again.

With wide eyes he watched the bird hover over a yawning gorge in the mountains. There was no way to follow him about it.

But when Po was about to shout something to him, the bird opened its claws.

Like out of his mind, Po gave a loud scream and jumped to the edge of the slope.

He had to watch helplessly as the basket disappeared into the ravine. He didn't even notice the bird's disappearance. The panda stared into the darkness in disbelief.

_This can't be true! That can't be!_


	9. Broken

With a loud scream, Shen struck a pillar.

It had taken more than an hour to be responsive again. Not least thanks to the soothsayer, who had given him and his family a quick waking up remedy.

Now everyone was in one of the many halls. Po could only make it clear to him with difficulty that he would never dare to approach the clutch against his will.

"Shen, it wasn't his fault," the soothsayer tried again. "I saw myself how he tried to rescue them."

"Yes," Po added. "As I said, it was this veiled, flying figure."

Po broke off when Shen's wings began to shake extremely.

Everyone could see that if the soothsayer wasn't in the room, he would have torn the panda to pieces.

Yin-Yu was not far from them, but she was still quite dazed from the soporific. But she had already noticed that her unborn children weren't there anymore.

Xia stood next to her and held her hands. She was extremely affected by the whole thing, too.

"Maybe there is still hope," she said calmly, although she wasn't sure about herself. It was actually impossible that the eggs could have survived such a fall. Nevertheless, they had induced that the soldiers searched the area.

Shen's sharp look immediately silenced her. Anger and despair had eroded the peacock internally long ago, but he still could control it that he not perished with that.

At that moment a couple of rams came into the room.

Shen looked up immediately. But to everyone's surprise, his voice seemed to have died. Instead, the rams had to begin their report.

"My Lord, this is all we have found."

With these words he held out something in a basket. Immediately Shen ran over to him. But what he found in the basket were empty eggshells.

Suddenly Yin-Yu jumped up and lunged forward. A single look was enough for her to see the Chinese markings. With a loud cry, she turned away briefly, covering her face. But that very moment she threw herself on the basket and hugged him as if it were a living person. Shen stood next to her and was initially unable to move. Then he slowly put a hand on her trembling shoulder.

Apart from her sobs, nothing was heard in the room. The air in the hall was oppressive. As if you couldn't breathe.

Po slumped down. He couldn't believe that the children who were soon to see the light of day should no longer be there. They just weren't there anymore. It seemed so unrealistic to him. He screwed up his eyes and opened them again, hoping to wake up from a nightmare.

But what happened after that made it brutally clear to him that it wasn't a dream at all. Because in the next moment the white peacock turned to him.

Po could just avoid the approaching knife bullets and hide behind a pillar.

"YOU DAMN CREATURE!" the Lord screamed.

In shock, Po peeked around the corner. "What did I do? I tried to save them."

There was another load of feather knives and the panda was forced to take cover again.

"You caused this calamity!" Shen continued to yell at him. "I should never have let you into my house!"

Po pressed against the pillar. He couldn't blame Shen's outburst of anger, but he feared Shen might go nuts in his anger now.

His fears seemed to be correct when the peacock suddenly appeared next to him.

Startled Po backed away. "No, please calm down."

But Shen seemed completely insane and rushed to the panda. But before he could reach him, someone pushed him aside. The peacock slid across the ground and came to a halt on a wall.

Panting, he straightened up and looked into the faces of his children, who stood protectively in front of the panda.

At first, it looked like the peacock would attack again, but when Xia and Sheng raised their hands, he sank back to the ground, as if he understood the whole thing now.

Nobody said a word for a while. Shen lay there, panting, until he got up crouched. Then he leaned his hand against the wall and stared at the floor.

Finally, he took a deep breath.

"Leave my house immediately."

"Father, please..." Xia fell silent when her father raised a hand, which silenced her.

"Leave my house," he repeated in a firm voice. "And never come back."

With heavy, slow steps he left the room, followed closely by a hard slamming of a door.

The room fell silent. Even Yin-Yu had stopped crying, but she still couldn't utter a word. She was lying on the floor, still clutching the basket, and seemed somehow absent-minded. Her daughter quickly took the initiative and leaned down to her.

Po looked around and didn't know what to do now.

Finally, the soothsayer spoke. "Po, just go," she said. "There's no point in making him angrier. Maybe he'll get over it."

The dragon warrior noticed that she doubted it very much, but at the moment he couldn't think of anything better.

With hunched shoulders, he went towards the exit. On his way he passed Yin-Yu and Xia. He paused and gave them a sad look.

"Po," Xia said to him. "It wasn't your fault."

But that couldn't cheer up Po anymore either. And the fact that the culprit could not be held responsible, since no one could identify him, either without a description, depressed him even more.

After he had packed his things, he left the palace with heavy steps.

While he wandered across the large square, he didn't notice a pair of eyes who watched him from the roof.

The dark figure waited a while longer, then he swung himself into the air and flew into the mountains.


	10. Different than planned

It was still dark a little when the black figure slowed down its flight speed at a certain point in the mountains. He landed in front of a cave in a mountain. There he let down himself on a stone and looked around.

"Where have you been so long?" A dark voice asked him gruffly.

The black bird ducked his head. "There was a problem. The eggs broke in the mountains."

There was a quick movement in a shadow.

"What are you talking about, Takeo?!"

The black bird backed away a little. "I was followed. That's when it happened."

Suddenly a figure jumped at him. The crow screamed as a claw tore him to the ground on his neck and held him there. The figure stared grimly at him with the blue eyes that belonged to a blue peacock.

"I wanted to destroy the eggs _by my own hands_!" He hissed.

"Sir," another voice said behind him. "You still need him."

A moment later an ox appeared.

The blue peacock straightened up; his claw still pressed to the crow's throat.

But then he thought about it. "Oh well. The result would have been the same anyway. Even if a bit annoying for me."

He let go of the one lying on the ground and stepped closer to the slope of the cave, from where there was a good view of the mountains. His thick coat covered a part of his body, but his beautiful blue plumage still stood out in the light morning sun.

Finally, he smiled. "Well, I suppose he had the panda executed in the meantime, right?"

The silence silenced the blue peacock. Then turned around.

"What is it?" He asked indignantly.

Takeo had troubles to swallow. "He just had to leave town."

He quickly dodged a blow.

"I thought you gave everyone a soporific!" The peacock yelled at him. "It should look like that this panda had destroyed the eggs!"

The crow pulled its head even tighter. "It didn't seem to have worked for him. He caught me stealing."

The peacock screeched in anger and smashed the black bird to the ground. Then he drew a knife and held it close over his throat. He looked him in the eye so horribly that it could run a cold chill down the spine.

"If you weren't still useful for my plans, I would cut off your head now."

He pressed the claw closer to his neck.

"You fly back to town and continuing as we discussed. You served me faithfully in my city in the past. Do not gamble away my grace for you. If you fail again, you will receive a pension that you can spend in the realm of the dead creatures."

The crow nodded and flew away quickly. The peacock looked after him with a venomous look.

"Are your people ready, Guo?" He asked the ox.

This one nodded. "Yes, we can attack at any time."

The blue peacock smiled coldly. "You should be ready. It looks like we can move on to the next phase of my plan soon."

The ox Guo didn't reply. Not even when the blue peacock maliciously rubbed his hands.

"First his town, and then his entire family." He smiled coldly. "Nothing shall remind of him anymore."


	11. The search for the guilt

It was very difficult for Xia to open her parents' room door. Whereby it wasn't even occupied by two, but only by one person. She took another deep breath, then she knocked tentatively. There was no answer, but she had expected that. She opened quietly the door and peered inside. Her mother sat on the bed, her gaze turned towards the window and gave the impression that she wanted to stay in this position for the rest of her life.

Reluctantly, her daughter stepped closer to her.

"Mother?" She asked softly.

The peahen didn't move, but a gentle "Mmm?" could be heard.

"We want to lunch. Would you like to eat anything too, or should I bring it to your room?"

But her mother shook her head, which meant that she wasn't hungry. Xia had actually expected it, but it couldn't go on like this forever.

"Mother." With that, she stood in front of her and put her hands on her mother's wings. "It has been going on for two days now. You have to eat something."

But her mother seemed to have troubles to notice her. "Later. Not today."

Her daughter left the room dejected. No sooner had she locked the door behind her than Sheng met her in the hallway.

"And?"

Xia shook her head. "It hit mother very hard, but father worries me even more."

Groaning, she leaned against the door of the room. "He holed up himself in his study room. He doesn't want to eat anything; he doesn't want to see anyone. I'm worried that he'll hurt himself or someone else."

Her brother sighed. "What should we do?"

The two siblings were silent for a while. Until Xia put her hand on his arm. "Mother has to talk to him."

Sheng looked at her in horror. "She can hardly talk alone. If she sees father like that now. I think that would break her."

"Maybe. But maybe others can argue her into doing that. I will encourage the soothsayer and Xinxin to have a little chat with her."

"Do you really think that's wise?" Her brother asked doubtfully. "Why should only mother do it? Wouldn't it be better if we step in for her?"

Xia lowered her gaze. "Maybe... maybe we don't mean as much to him as mother."

Sheng's eyes widened. "Do you really believe that?"

"He doesn't know us," Xia objected and pushed away from the door. "In contrast to mother. He knows her better. And he loves her more, too. So I think... she has more influence on him."

With that, she turned away and ran down the hall, while Sheng watched her go in silence.

* * *

It was dark in the study room. No lights were on. All windows were bolted and locked. No light came through, even though it was at dusk. The white lord had retired to the farthest corner of the room and had not moved since he had thrown out the panda. Only now and then was his phase of silence interrupted by crying and sleeping. The rest of the time he just spent staring into the darkness. He didn't respond to knocking or calls. And nobody could come in anyway because he had locked the door. He just didn't want to see anything or anyone. So it was not surprising that he didn't react when someone knocked on the door.

"Shen?"

Only when Yin-Yu's voice came through behind the door, he looked up.

"Shen? Could I come in?"

He stayed silent.

"Could you give me a sign of life from you at least?" her voice continued.

A sigh escaped him. "Go away."

He didn't want to see her.

"If you don't want to see me, can I talk to you for a moment at least? In front of the door?"

He got up from his seating position, a little ruefully. "What is that supposed to help? Just go."

"I need someone to talk," she insisted on it.

"What do you want?" The sooner it was behind him, the sooner he could be alone again.

"I'm worried about you," Yin-Yu continued. "I just wanted to make sure you weren't doing violence to yourself."

"Why should I?"

"Because you didn't eat anything the last few days."

"You didn't either."

"How do you know?"

Shen was silent for a moment. "I just know that."

"Then you should also know that I ate something again today."

"How can you eat something?!"

The white peacock hit the wall furiously.

There was a brief silence behind the door. "We can't go on like this forever, Shen. Our children would not have wanted that either..."

"HOW DO YOU WANT TO KNOW THAT?!" he yelled. "You never knew them!"

"Shen, I know how you feel. And I don't ask that you have to connive. All I want to tell you is that I don't want to risk losing you."

"My life is none of your business!" Tears welled in his eyes.

He could hear her leaning against the door. "Shen. Please don't make the same mistake as you did in Gongmen City."

The white peacock listened. "How do you mean that?"

"Soothsayer told me a few things about what happened in Gongmen City. I just don't understand one thing." She paused for a moment. "Why did you want to die?"

Shen thought his heart would skip.

"Did you just want everything or nothing at that time?"

The white lord stood in the darkness. Completely alone. With what kind of stuff did that soothsayer turned her head?

"Can't you tell me?" She continued.

Shen's claws dug into the ground. The pain from the past was felt inside of him again.

"Either I had to win or I had to die!" He yelled. "There was no other option for me! Either I died for my victory or I would have been executed. And I had no reason to go on living after my defeat." He broke off briefly. "Or for anyone."

There was another minute of silence until Yin-Yu broke the silence.

"When I was married to Xiang at the time, I felt the same way. But I didn't have as great a spirit as you. Your chi is strong. I could only keep my will to live because of my children. If it hadn't been for them - then I would be dead, too. But you know... As hopeless as everything may be, I always hoped for a way out. Just… just promise me that I don't have to strive with you when you are gone." She struggled to hold back her crying. Apparently, her mental powers were as good as used up. "And above all - do not bury your peace with others."

"It was his fault!"

"That's not true, and you know that. You just want to have an explanation for your pain. The main thing is that it wasn't your fault."

"Was it my fault?"

"No. But just promise me you won't throw peace at his feet. He saved you then. Otherwise, we wouldn't be here."

Yin-Yu hid her face in her hands. Somehow, she felt she had made a mistake. Inwardly, she hoped Shen wouldn't catch it. But they were like one. And Shen had caught the thought, unfortunately. The white peacock took a deep breath.

"I wish I had died. Then I would have been spared this."

Yin-Yu slumped. She had never wanted the conversation to end in this direction. But it happened.

"I would have been spared everything!"

They heard him running up and down the room and hitting the walls.

"Shen, please..."

"Go away, go away!" He shouted.

Yin-Yu tried to say something else, but Shen didn't give her a chance to speak.

"NOW GO! Just go! Leave me alone! Go! Go! Go!"

She hurried away while Shen pressed his hands against the locked window.

Everything burned in him like the fire of his weapons. A pain he couldn't tear out like a knife in his chest.

He screamed.

He never wanted to let anything get close to him. Neither she nor anyone else. Why did he let that happen? Why couldn't he escape it all?

Wasn't it like light when she kissed him in her love again? How the phoenix would awaken Who swung in the air. There had been a future.

A future…

* * *

_**One day after the wedding day...** _

_The sun was rising, but it was still too early in the morning. But the two didn't care. Shen lay in bed with his back against a pillow while Yin-Yu lay next to him._

" _We still have to think about names," she muttered._

_Shen stroked her face and lifted her chin so she was facing his face._

" _Do you already have one?" He asked._

_She smiled. "I already know one, which I would like to have."_

_Shen raised his eyebrows. "For a boy or for a girl?"_

_She hugs him, whispering to him: "When the time comes, I'll tell you."_

_He let himself down to her and the two pressed against each other._

" _Don't you want to tell me now?" He begged._

_But Yin-Yu shook her head. "Only when it is there."_

" _Can't you give me a hint yet?" He asked._

_She giggled as he rubbed her back. "If you hold it in your arms, I'll tell you."_

* * *

With a loud scream he struck the window. The boards broke into a thousand pieces.

In the next moment, the lord jumped outside and ran across the rooftops. Over the wall, further over the city. He paid no attention to the townspeople, which he met his way. He just wanted to get away. He flew and ran at such a speed through the city gate and from there on and on into the mountains. He raced so fast as if he wanted to break through the universe. He had no goal. He had no idea where he was going.

At some point, just at some point, his burning lungs forced him to stop. But before he even came to a standstill, he hit a wall of snow that had survived the spring sun and triggered a small mountain avalanche. With a thundering crash, the mass of snow rolled down and sank into a ravine somewhere. As soon as the last thunder of snow had died down, he collapsed on a rock. There was no force inside of him anymore. Not even to scream. All he could do was breathe. And the time around him went on. Without that he could influence it.


	12. The fallen city

A long way from the powerless, white peacock away, but still within sight, another figure sat on a platform and watched him. He had noticed the thundering avalanche from afar and looked down at the former proud lord with some satisfaction.

"Shall we kill him?" Guo asked.

The blue peacock shook his head. "No, he's exactly there where I wanted him to be. It couldn't have gone any better."

He turned away. "No, he won't come to me until I allow it. And he will come to me."

Guo let him walk past him and scratched his ear.

"But I still don't understand the point of your plan yet."

"Destroying their lives. That's my goal." The blue peacock folded his wings together and his eyes darkened. "Even if I should die."

* * *

In the meantime, it was in the evening. In the city it became quieter, only in the palace it was impossible to find peace.

After the argument, Yin-Yu didn't retreat back to her room, but into one of the many common rooms.

The soothsayer, her confidante Xinxin, and her two children, were the only ones who keeping her company.

They didn't talk much. Mainly it was Yin-Yu, who blamed herself and the others had to comfort her.

"Maybe it was a mistake talking to him after all," she muttered.

"Do you think we should look for him?" Xia asked. Because by now everyone knew that Shen had run away from town.

But the soothsayer shook her head. "Shen cannot be forced into anything. He has to deal with it alone."

Xia was skeptical about that. "And how long can that take?"

Nobody could give her an answer.

* * *

Nobody knew that an army was getting ready outside the city area. An army of at least 200 men and more. Not much to raid a city, but it was enough for his plan.

The ox Guo wasn't quite so sure.

"Are you sure it will work?"

The blue peacock smiled. "According to Takeo, there are still not many soldiers in his city yet. And if he knocks off some of the soldiers and, as discussed, if he renders unusable their weapons, it will be easy."

A bitter smile crossed his face.

"And then the rest will be a waltz."

* * *

"I'm tired for today," Sheng said and yawned uninhibitedly.

His mother nodded to him. "Yes, it's been a tough week for all of us."

She stood up from her seat on several pillows. "Maybe your father will come back soon."

"Hopefully in a better mood, too," Xia hoped, which she said very quietly.

Sheng was about to open the door when it was suddenly thrown open and two rams rushed in.

"Lady Yin-Yu! We are under attack!"

Everyone in the room looked at them in shock.

"What do you mean?" the peahen asked cautiously.

But then she was interrupted by loud screams from outside.

She hurried to the window with the others. But all what they could see were strange black-clad oxen storming over the wall. Anyone who stood in their way, they knocked them down.

"Why is no one defending the wall?" Yin-Yu asked, completely shocked.

"The cannons don't work!" the guard reported.

"What do you mean that they don't work?" Xia chopped indignantly.

But there were no further questions.

At the next moment there was a commotion outside in the hallway. Two more big goats stormed into the room. But before either of them could say a word, they were knocked out by oxen.

The two rams tried to defend themselves, but they were knocked down immediately, too. Shortly afterwards, four black-clad oxen ran in.

Yin-Yu, Xia, the soothsayer squeezed into the far corner of the room. Only the vixen Xinxin hid herself under the pillows. And Sheng had no intention of surrendering. He jumped at them and attacked the intruders.

But then suddenly another ox appeared and hurled the young peacock against the wall. Yin-Yu rushed to him immediately. But the shock that followed was not lessened when she realized who had broken into the palace.

As she leaned over her son, who lay groaning on the floor, she looked intimidated at the attacker.

"Long time no see, huh?" Guo didn't seem to be surprised by her reaction. "But your son is really not good for a fight yet."

He laughed. Normally Xia would have scolded someone like him, but Guo's appearance did not suggest anything good to anyone. And this fear promptly came true.

"Oh, by the way," Guo continued. "Someone wants to speak to you in front of town. If you don't want that anyone will be hurt, then I would advise you to come with me."

* * *

There were screams around them. But no one had the opportunity to follow these screams.

Yin-Yu was dragged through the city with Xia, Sheng and the soothsayer, accompanied by several mercenaries. Here and there a house was on fire. Because of the darkness of the night, no one could say exactly how great the damage was.

She was brutally pushed forward a few times. The whole thing went on until they were less than one kilometer away from the city limits. Then she was simply thrown on the floor.

But before she could straighten up, a voice let her froze.

"Ah, Yin-Yu, my dear. How nice to see you again after one year."

She had hoped never to hear that voice again. But when she raised her head, the man was just a few steps in front of her, who she never wanted to see again.

Xiang grinned when their eyes met.

Immediately the peahen backed away and bumped against her two children. They were deeply dismayed, too. The blue peacock, on the other hand, seemed to like her fear. Yin-Yu unconsciously pressed her children closer to herself.

"If you want to kill us, just kill me! But let them go," she cried.

Xiang smiled mockingly. "You've got pretty cheeky within a short time, and I don't like the sound."

He took a step forward, but his ex-children would not allow any further and stood protectively in front of her.

His gaze wandered between the two siblings with scornful facial expressions.

"What are you doing here?" Xia snapped at him.

"Shouldn't you be in jail?" Sheng joined her.

The blue peacock shrugged. "So many questions without asking my permission. You really weren't well-educated during my absence. But pleasure. You should get answers. But we can also discuss them on the way."

"What do you mean?" Xia asked in a firm voice.

But at the next moment they were grabbed by several oxen while Xiang explained his statement. "That means that we will make a little journey - as an ex-family."


	13. In ruins

"Master Shen! Master! Master!"

Shen blinked. Only now he felt how he was freezing. He stood up, trembling. He was lying on the floor. Around him dirty rocks only. Dew lay on his feathers. The lord groaned. His head hurt terribly. He looked around. The sun hadn't risen yet, but the sky was already brightening a little.

His gaze wandered down. His robe was partly hung with dirt and a little grazed.

"Master Shen!"

He listened. A lonely voice in the mountains called his name. Or was he just imagining it?

When the voice kept calling for him, he had to come to the conclusion that he was not dreaming. And with that, all the other terrible memories came back.

"Master!"

The white peacock looked up when he saw movement on a narrow path.

It was Liang the little sheep. The soothsayer's great-nephew.

With a deep sigh the lord wanted to turn away, but no sooner had the sheep sighted him than it ran straight towards him.

"Master! My lord! I finally found you!"

"What do you want, Liang?" Shen didn't feel like talking to anyone at all. "Just leave me alone."

"But master! Something terrible happened."

The lord looked down. "How bad can it get?"

The peacock didn't expect the death of his children could be surpassed at all, but what Liang blurted out was even that too much.

"The city was attacked!" Liang gasped out breathlessly.

Shen initially thought he had misheard and asked for repeat. "What?"

"She was attacked! We couldn't stop them. And..." The sheep hardly dared to speak. "Your wife and children have disappeared."

Liang didn't get around to mentioning his great-aunt's disappearance. Because in the next moment the lord jumped over him and sped away.

* * *

The sun was just casting its first rays over the mountains when Shen finally reached the city. The morning rays seemed to want to show him clearly what lay ahead. And what he saw took his breath away.

Piles of smoke rose everywhere over Yin Yan. The fires were quenched, but that couldn't repair the damage. Even so, the damage didn't seem to be that immense. The attackers did not have the intention or the time to lay everything to rubble and ashes. The lord ignored what was happening around him. Only one thought preoccupied him. As fast as he could, he made his way to the palace. It was not as badly damaged as the city, but repairs would take a long time to get everything back to its original condition.

The city wall and the palace wall had holes in some places. But Shen didn't care at all. No sooner had he reached the parade ground than Xinxin came running towards him.

"Oh, my lord!"

The gray vixen threw herself down wistfully in front of him.

"What happened here?" Shen asked straight away.

"We were attacked," Xinxin said. "The weapons on the wall didn't work. The palace was stormed and..."

"Who was it?" Shen wanted to know immediately.

The gray vixen hid her face in her hands. "I recognized the intruder immediately, but what he left as a message was much worse."

She rose and grabbed Shen's arm, which only frightened the lord even more. Usually, Xinxin was someone with decency, but that was too much for her too, and she only pronounced one name: "Xiang."

Shen's face froze to death. She couldn't tell what was on his mind. He tore himself away from her and went a few steps across the square.

The vixen looked at him ruefully from behind.

"Where did they take them?"

Shen's monotonous words froze her. "Sir, it's impossible for you that you can there..."

"WHERE?!"

Shen shouted so loudly and hit the ground with his fist so that the stone slabs beneath him cracked and shattered in a wide radius.

Xinxin swallowed hard. "Gongmen City."


	14. Determined to do everything

"Here we will take a rest."

The troops stopped at Xiang's orders.

It was already at dusk. They had been on the road for a while, but the mountains were no longer visible. Just a flat forest landscape, except for a few tall, overgrown rocks that protruded from the ground here and there.

After camp was set up and the night watchers were distributed, Xiang retired on a small hill and watched the darkening horizon.

Guo joined him after a while.

"It's not far away until the city," were Xiang's words to him.

"And what if he catches up with us?" the ox asked behind him.

Xiang smiled. "Our lead is too big. And even if... then that's fine with me."

There was a short pause.

"And you're sure you want to go through with this?" Guo asked unsurely.

Xiang's posture tightened. "He will suffer as much as I did for everything what he took away from me."

"And I thought you blame her."

"Mpf, her, too. But I can't take as much from her as I can from him. And by the way…"

He pressed the palms of his wings very closely together. "... she will be punished soon enough."

He felt Guo's gaze on his back and looked annoyed back at him. "Now let all this be my concern. After we are successful, you will get your tribute soon enough."

"I hope so. The people here have not been bribed for free to take part in this campaign. Breaking out of the work camp many months ago was risky enough. If we are caught..."

"We'll have done everything by then," Xiang cut him off. "Now don't keep talking, just do your work."

With that, Guo left the place and marched over to his tent.

* * *

Near the center of the camp, Yin-Yu and the others were in a cage. They froze a little and huddled close together.

Xia and Sheng were almost asleep, only Yin-Yu stayed awake and watched the old goat who was sitting in a corner with her eyes closed. Yin-Yu didn't want to disturb her. She didn't feel like talking anyway. Their only hope was the help from outside. But at the same time, she was plagued by the fear that he would risk too much. And that danger would not only come from Xiang.

* * *

"Master! Master!" With despair, the little sheep ran after the lord. "Don't go there! You know what you have to expect there!"

Shen pushed Liang aside angrily. "I know that myself. I know it all the time."

"You aren't allowed to go there!"

Liang grabbed his shirt convulsively.

"Stop it!" Shen scolded and tore himself away. "You are just as bad as your great aunt!"

They were somewhere on a path in the mountains. Shen had taken his sword and was headed straight to Gongmen City, which Liang didn't like at all.

"But master... Shouldn't some of us go with you at least?"

"He expects that I come alone," the lord dismissed him.

"But what will happen to the city if something happens to you?"

Shen paused. They stood near a slope now, where it went further into the valley below the mountains.

Shen sighed deeply. "If I never come back, you will take over the city."

He turned to Liang. Then he put his hands together and bowed. "Goodbye."

The sheep got tears in his eyes as Shen walked to the edge of the slope.

"Do me a favor," he heard Shen say. "Whatever happens..." He looked firmly at Liang. "Never let the panda know."

With these words, the peacock pushed off the cliff and sailed down the mountain with a peacock cry.

The sheep looked after him sadly. He would have loved to notify the dragon warrior. But maybe he had problems anyway.


	15. Visitors from the north

With quiet, heavy footsteps, Mr. Ping climbed up the stairs. But the roof room was boarded up. Timidly, he knocked on it.

"Po? Po-oo-o."

But nobody answered.

"Say something at least."

"Go away," came a muffled voice from behind the barricade, which caused Mr. Ping to breathe a sigh of relief.

"I made your favorite food for you."

"I'm not hungry," Po repelled.

Disappointed, Mr. Ping left again. When he went into the kitchen, his friends were entering the room.

"How is he?" Tigress asked.

Mr. Ping sighed. "He has locked himself in his room for 3 days. I just can't get through to him. He doesn't eat anything, he doesn't speak. I don't know what else to do!"

"Maybe we should cheer him up a bit," suggested Monkey.

"And with what?" Crane asked.

"Oh, excuse me."

With surprise, everyone turned to a pig that had come through the kitchen door. "But do these people belong to you?"

The pig pointed to the entrance of the restaurant. Everyone looked out of the window.

Their mouths stayed open.

The gate and terrace were full of oxen. They wore thick skins and looked heavily armed.

The five thought of a robbery and took a cautious fighting stance. But at the next moment someone pushed his way through all the oxen.

"Did you find him or what?"

The ox who appeared was covered with the most fur and seemed to be the leader of this army.

"King Wang?"

Mr. Ping was so surprised that he simply jumped out through the kitchen window onto the terrace.

"Ah, not seen for over a year," Wang greeted him.

Mr. Ping bowed respectfully to the Hun King. "To what do we owe the honor of your visit?"

King Wang scratched his head. "Well, that's a difficult thing... Where is the dragon warrior? I have to talk to him."

"Oh, he's right now..." Mr. Ping didn't know how to say it. "He's a little indisposed at the moment. He has to come to terms with something."

* * *

It was pitch dark in Po's room. He even locked the window. The panda was lying on his bed and didn't want to see anyone. His thoughts were so far away that he didn't even notice that someone was climbing up the wall outside and was tampering with the window. Suddenly the window was pushed open and something heavy landed on the floor of the room.

Po was so scared that he screamed. In the end, both of them screamed.

Then the panda realized that he was a kung fu fighter after all. Out of reflex he reached out and struck. The shadow in front of him fell against the wall, knocking over a few shelves.

Still excited, Po stood on his bed while the tall person in front of him straightened up.

"Is that a Chinese Kung-Fu rite?"

Po paused in surprise. "King Wang?"

"Dragon warrior."

Wang got up with difficulty, while Po had to sort his thoughts first. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, I've come all the way to discuss an important matter."

"Really?"

At that moment, Po's stomach spoke up.

"Uh, maybe we should discuss that while dinner."

* * *

The others raised their heads when there was a loud crack above them. At the next moment the wooden boards were torn from the attic and Po ran down the stairs. Closely followed by Wang. His friends looked at him in surprise.

"Po?"

"Hey guys! This is King Wang. He was there when Shen and I went to the castle..."

He paused. Only now he seemed to realize what he said and immediately afterwards he put on a sad face again.

"What happened?" The king of the Huns asked.

Sadly, Po stroked the floor with his foot. "Oh, that's a screwed up, tricky story."

* * *

"Here you are, Po." With a warm smile, Mr. Ping placed a bowl on the table for his son. "You're just skin and bones."

Then he turned to the soldiers. "My goodness, I've never had so many customers in one day."

Po sighed deeply. "Well, that's how it was."

He stirred the bowl listlessly. He sat at a table with his friends and Wang while telling his story of suffering in Yin Yan.

"This is really very unfortunate," Wang said sympathetically.

"Yes, if we knew who did that at least." With that, the panda took the bowl and emptied it, while Monkey patted him reassuringly on the shoulder.

"But why are you here?" Mantis wanted to know from Wang.

"Oh yes!" Now it seemed to come back to Wang. "Xiang has broken out."

Po almost choked on the soup. "What?!"

"Along with a few of his manipulated soldiers. And the worst is," Wang continued, banging his fist on the table. "We heard about his escape a few weeks ago, and worse, he had broken out many months ago and nobody had noticed it."

"And now you are here because you suspect that he... Wait a minute." Po thought for a moment. "Why did you come here?"

King Wang smiled sheepishly. "Well, he was not found in his city. And Yin Yan is a corner further away than the Valley of Peace, and I wanted to make a little detour along the way. I also always wanted to see the place where the dragon warrior was born."

Po cleared his throat. "Well, actually I wasn't born here, just grew up. But what if Xiang could target Shen?"

"Don't worry," Wang waved his hand. "I've already sent a flight messenger to take a look. And besides, I have the feeling that I might even need the dragon warrior's help."

At that moment, like right on cue, an eagle landed on the roof of the restaurant.

"King Wang," he greeted.

"Wing-Xing?" Wang seemed to be surprised. "Back so soon?"

The eagle bowed. "I had to hurry because I have nothing good to say. The city, where you sent me, was attacked."

Everyone jumped up.

"I beg your pardon?"

"What happened?" Wang wanted to know while Wing-Xing continued with his report. "Well, from what I've heard, it was through Xiang and his army."

Po sank on the chair, but immediately he jumped up again. "What about Shen and his family?!"

The eagle folded its wings. "He kidnapped some of them, and as far as I found out, Shen is after them."

Now Po was only interested in one question. "Where?"

"To a town named Gongmen City."


	16. On shaky ground

Gongmen City had been slow to recover from all the damage. Everything, except the Palace of Flames, was back to normal. Yet the palace had not been abandoned. The first few floors have been already back, if only half-finished. But the scaffolding was by no means habitable, which is why the Kung Fu masters, Master Ox and Master Croc, preferred to move into the quarters next to the palace. Only now and then, they passed the large forecourt, where a big statue of Master Thundering Rhino adorned the square. Like this afternoon.

"Do you want to look at the statue all day?" Master Croc asked.

Master Ox snorted. "If I could throw someone into the Realm of Spirit with that, then yes."

His colleague sighed deeply. "You just can't forgive him."

"Can you do that?" Master Ox snapped at him.

The crocodile ducked his head. "No, of course not. But with that, we can bring him back either."

With a snort, Master Ox turned away and looked up at the statue again. Master Croc was getting bored and turned to leave.

"Well. I'll be in the quarter if you need me..."

He stopped abruptly. At first, he thought he was hallucinating and rubbed and screwed up his eyes several times. But what he saw at the entrance to the stairs, across the square took his breath almost away. Still gasping for air, he tapped Master Ox on the back.

Master Ox grunted angrily. "Bloody hell. If you want to go, then go!"

"But, but... but... but..."

Gradually, Master Ox was getting on the nerves of his friend's stuttering. "What is it?"

"There, there... over there."

Finally, the ox turned while the crocodile only pointed forward.

And now he noticed it, too.

"What the…"

On the stairs stood a figure, which was too familiar with them. However, something was different about her.

"Is that... or isn't he?" Master Croc stammered, still very confused.

"It's just a trick!"

Before Master Croc could stop him, Master Ox grabbed a large stone that was being used to rebuild the palace and hurled it at the figure who stood still a long way away from them. But the figure reacted with lightning speed.

With a grace, the peacock deflected the stony missile and hurled it back at the two kung fu masters. Both ducked their heads and the stone crashed into a part of the palace's scaffolding, which collapsed with a crash.

They stared at the mishap with open mouths. Fortunately, nobody was working on the construction site at the moment.

Their eyes wandered back to the blue peacock, who was crouched and lurked with one hand on the ground. "Not very a nice way to show your hospitality."

From the voice, Master Ox could only guess that it wasn't Shen, which Master Croc only confirmed.

"It doesn't seem to be him. And I thought he had colored himself."

"How did you go past the guards?" Master Ox snapped at the strange peacock. He didn't care what the intruder wanted, but he wasn't out of sorts with peacocks anyway.

"Who?" the blue peacock asked and got up. "Oh, them. They are taking a lunch break, I think. But you have a very rude behavior."

He straightened his robe. "But whatever."

Then he continued to walk slowly towards the two masters. "I'm a little pushed for time, which is why I would like to ask you to surrender immediately and leave the city to me."

Master Ox thought he was not hearing right. "What shall we?!"

Master Croc was confused by this request. "Does that happen to us with every peacock that comes to us?"

But Master Ox turned into a raging bull and only showed his fist. "Make yourself scarce, or we will pluck your feathers!"

The blue peacock twisted his mouth mockingly. "Tz, such a rude behavior, that would be too unworthy even for a garbage man."

The ox rushed angrily at him, but the blue peacock Xiang dodged him again and again skillfully and even fended him off.

"If I were you, I'd better surrender," Xiang demanded in a moment of standstill.

But Master Ox struck at him, the peacock evaded his blow, which elicited an angry hiss from the peacock.

"Tz, as you will."

He raised the wing.

Only a few seconds passed.

Suddenly an explosion shook the air.

The eyes of the two masters wandered into the distance, where houses collapsed in a cloud of smoke on the outermost edge of the city. A shout rose among the animals who were living there.

"As you can see," Xiang commented without regret. "I have already made preparations."

Master Ox and Master Croc watched in disbelief as Xiang stood in front of them as if nothing had happened.

"Your city is on shaky ground," the peacock scoffed. "My people have spent all the weeks putting gunpowder in the city. Everything below the city is covered with explosive powder."

The color in Master Croc's drained and he stared at the floor below, causing Xiang to smile coldly. "With every resistance I release another bomb. If you give in, I'll give the city enough time to evacuate and, maybe, I'll let you go."

Both looked at him speechless.

Master Ox with more anger, Master Croc was shocked.

Finally, they gave in.

A wicked, confident smile played over Xiang's mouth. "Fine, I see we understand each other."

He gave another sign. But this time for his soldiers who had waited behind the walls and surrounded the masters.

"Take them away," Xiang ordered coldly. "If they refuse or want to flee, don't hesitate to blow up the second blasting charge. And I don't care how many people live there."

Obediently, the black-clad oxen did what the peacock asked, while Guo placed himself next to Xiang. "It was easier than I thought."

The blue peacock smiled. "And it gets even easier. Now we just have to wait until the main guest arrives. Then we will give him a fitting reception."


	17. Entry ban

"Po? What are you up to?"

The panda had jumped thunderstruck and ran to the exit of the restaurant.

"What do you think?" He answered Manits's question. "He's not allowed to go there. And if there is a dangerous blue bird waiting for him with an army, then you have to do something about it."

"Do you really think that's wise?" Viper doubted. "Leave it to the Huns. After all, Xiang broke out of their prison."

"And by the way," Monkey added. "He wouldn't be pleased to find you there."

Po's eyes narrowed. "That may be true, but I have to go there."

"Why?" Tigress pressed on him. "Just because you think that you have to make up for him something? It wasn't your fault."

The panda slumped his shoulders. With a bump he sat down on the floor and stared dead ahead.

"If I may interrupt for a moment," Wang said. "Personally, I wouldn't mind having the dragon warrior by my side."

He gave Po a comradely slap on the shoulder. "I know Xiang longer than you think. His family hadn't been on good terms with us. After all, we've been neighbors for generations. His father died quite early. And his mother - was beautiful and very controlled. We had the fewest problems with her when she took over her husband's town. But she disappeared under mysterious circumstances. You never found out what became of her. Xiang was still a teenager when he succeeded the throne."

"In this case, it's a done deal then," interrupted Po and stood up.

"Then we'll come with you," Monkey said resolutely.

"Coming with me?" Po's mouth remained open. "You don't have to do that."

"Po, this is not just about a duel," Tigress instructed him decisively. "You will need reinforcements."

Po gave Wang a questioning look. The leader shrugged his shoulders. "I don't mind."

A little agitated, Po rocked from one leg to the other. "Well then. Let's go!"

"Po!" Mr. Ping called after him from the restaurant. "I'll pack you something to eat!"

"Shifu has to know about it," Mantis added.

"I'll do that," Crane offered himself.

"Here, Po!" Immediately Mr. Ping rushed towards him with a stuffed backpack. "This should be enough for the next few days. And take good care of yourself."

"I will, Dad." They hugged.

At that moment they were distracted by King Wang's reputation.

"Wait a moment!"

Everyone looked at King Wang, who had stopped next to a little kiosk.

"Is this a Dragon Warrior fan article shop?" He asked.

The pig, that owned the stall, nodded. "Uh, yes."

"I buy everything!"

The pig's jaw almost dropped. "This will be the business of my life."


	18. Shadows of parents

In the meantime, Xiang, Guo and a few others had broken into the masters' quarters, where all Gongmen City documents were stored.

"Nice facility," Xiang said dryly. "But not very elegant."

His gaze wandered up to a large picture on the wall.

"They seem to be his parents," Guo said.

Xiang rubbed his beak. "Seems to be."

Guo studied the picture thoughtfully, especially Shen's father.

"He looks like you," he said finally.

Xiang waved his hand disparagingly. "Oh, my father looked a lot better. Just like me."

Reverently he stroked his feathers. Then he swung his robe around harshly.

"Burn it. Everything!"

"Everything?" Guo asked.

"Of course," Xiang confirmed somberly. "Nothing should be left over from the city, or do you think I just laid out all the explosive powder for fun? First, we destroy the interior and then later we blow up the whole city. But only when he's dead. Together with his brood."

"What about my reward?" Takeo asked, who had sat down on one of the shelves.

"Takeo, you can make yourself useful by burning some things!" Xiang ordered gruffly.

"Burning?"

"Yes, burning! Put everything together and then out with it!"

* * *

It did not take long and a kind of pyre was piled up in the backyard of the palace, consisting of all city documents and valuables.

While the soldiers were busy carrying the things out, Xiang took the time to look through some papers now and then. Most of it was of no interest to him. He only dwelled a little longer on the family's personal documents. Especially with the parchments of the city's history.

"A nice clan brought him up here," Xiang said disdainfully and threw the next scroll into a corner.

"First, they pamper him, and then they just throw him out. A nice family."

He went to the window and looked out at the place where they had started to set fire to the already large pile of papers.

Guo joined him. "Well, after all I've heard, they should have loved him. At least that's what the rumors say in the city."

Xiang snorted. "Nonsense like that."

There was a pause that slowly made Guo uncomfortable. Mumbling, he went away.

"Well, at least he seems to have had good parents. In contrast to your mother…"

He stopped, startled. Hesitantly, he turned to the peacock, who was frozen. Suddenly his hands began to shake. Before Guo could say anything, the peacock grabbed a chair and threw it at the ox. Guo was able to avoid it in the last second.

"I WON'T HEAR OF HER ANYMORE!" Xiang yelled at him. "NEVER AGAIN! DO YOU UNDERSTAND?!"

Anger and fear were reflected in his face. But then he seemed to have regained his composure and turned his back on the ox.

"Never again." His voice fell into a hoarse, shaky whisper.

The ox rose ruefully. "I'm sorry. I was just thinking aloud. It could have been possible that that's why you hate women so much."

The peacock turned to him in a flash, staring at him menacingly. "One word more and you can wipe up your blood from the floor!"

Guo ducked his head. The peacock looked like he might kill someone at any moment.

But the peacock controlled himself again and avoided his gaze.

"What are you still standing around here? Make yourself useful. Just go away!"

Hastily Guo left the room.

It fell silent. Only from the outside could the flames in the courtyard be heard, greedily distorting the paper. There was a warmth in the air, but the peacock was cold inside. He leaned against the wall and hugged himself. An ice-cold shiver went through his marrow and bones as if someone were stretching its cold fingers towards him.

_"You are my good boy, aren't you?"_

_Her feather fingers clawed his neck admonishingly. She laughed._

He looked at his wings in shock. He thought he could feel blood under the feathers.

No, that was just an imagination.

Her laughter echoed in his ears again.

Groaning, he held his head and sank to the floor.

Her voice and her laugh. That devilish laugh from her. How much he had hated it.

Suddenly he jumped up and threw the table with brutal force against the wall. The wood crashed into a thousand pieces.

Panting, the peacock knelt on the ground.

_You will never control me anymore!_


	19. Feel torn

Xia rattled at the bars angrily. "Damn it!"

The cage where she was in with Sheng and the soothsayer was in a secluded room. Only her mother was with them.

She kicked against the bars again, then turned away indignantly.

"Stop it," Sheng said, who had sat down on the floor of the cage. "That doesn't help us anyway."

"You want out of here too, don't you?" Her sister snapped at him.

Sheng raised his eyebrows and clenched in his cross-legged position.

"You heard it yourself," her brother warned her calmly. "If we try to break out, they'll do something to mother."

Sighing, Xia leaned her back against the bars. "What is he going to do with her?"

Sheng took a deep breath in and out. "Killing rather less. She's a too good hostage for him for that."

The girl sank to the floor. "So you also think that we are not good?"

Her brother looked at her in surprise. "What do you mean by that?"

Xia sat up and stared at the ceiling through the bars. "That he likes mother more than us."

"Why do you ask such a question?"

"Have you never asked yourself that?"

Sheng was silent and wanted to change the subject, so his gaze wandered to the soothsayer, who was sitting in a corner of the cage and waving something in the hoof back and forth.

"What's that?" He asked curiously.

The goat held the little object a little higher.

It was a blue feather.

"Where did you get this?"

"It was blown towards me in the wind last night," she replied calmly, which made Xia snort.

"Now he's already got a loss of feathers? Just spare me that!"

Furiously, she grabbed the blue feather, threw it to the ground and stepped on it once.

The goat looked at her calmly. "You hate him, don't you?"

Xia pressed the feather even more with her foot. Then she just turned away, crossed her arms, and stared through the bars.

Thoughtfully, the soothsayer picked up the blue feather, which Xia had completely disheveled. Sheng watched the goat how she straightened the quills again. Then his gaze wandered back to his sister, who seemed to be tormented inside.

"I know what he's capable of," she blurted out. "Whenever he could, he bullied her. In the night he locked her in her room. He locked his own door, too. He even closed our rooms. When he was in a bad mood, he took his anger out on her."

She hugged herself.

"I don't even want to think about what he's doing now in his anger."

Sheng rose from his seat, walked over to her, and patted her shoulders. "It will definitely not come to that."

She pushed his hands away. "You can't even know that."

Her brother sighed, but then turned her over so she was facing his face.

"That won't happen," he said urgently. "Because he won't allow it."

"You mean father?" She looked down. "What should he be able to do?"

Sheng firmly grabbed her shoulders. "He will come. Believe me, he will come."

Xia let out a sob. "I want to believe it, but I'm scared."

Quickly he hugged her before she cried. He himself didn't know what to do with why he just stroked her back.

The soothsayer watched them both with a sad look, then her gaze wandered back to the blue feather in her hand.

* * *

Shen opened his eyes. It was as if something was calling for him. Or was he just imagining it? He rubbed his sore feet. He hadn't paused the whole way. Now he was standing on a hill. Gongmen City shone in the midday sun.

The white peacock sighed wistfully. This sight reminded him of when he first returned after his exile. It was a collection of mixed feelings. He came back as a warlord, with great plans and an anger that he could hardly control. Today it was the opposite. He hadn't succeeded, nor did he have a plan. He just knew he wanted to get them out of there. The only question was how. Xiang wasn't that stupid and would give them back to him willingly. He had to expect that he wanted more than to threaten his family only. It was no longer a game for him.

Shen scanned the city. The palace tower had been rebuilt to just under a third. Otherwise, nothing about the city had changed. Except for one thing that caught his attention. A few light columns of smoke soared into the air over part of the city, which was more than unusual.

In order not to take any chances, he got himself a long old coat, which even reached up to the feathers of his tail, and crept near where the smoke rose into the sky. A few townspeople ran over the place, who were either busy clearing up rubble or recovering the injured persons.

Everyone was still so shocked that no one paid any attention to Shen or just asked what he was doing here as a stranger. The white peacock hid his face deep under the dark coat and stopped a sheep that ran past him.

"What happened here?" He asked.

"All the houses have collapsed," the sheep gasped in complete panic. "You'd better get out of here, stranger, there is a rumor, that the town might blow up all the time!"

With that, it ran away. But that was enough for Shen to understand the gravity of the situation and to guess what the blue peacock had hatched.

Shen stepped away from the scene of the accident, sat down on a wooden bench, and thought hard. Running into the trap blindly would be wrong. He had to plan one step ahead and he already knew what to do.


	20. The vengeance of the oppressed person

Her throat hurt. The rope that was supposed to keep her from running away wasn't exactly slack. She was alone. The room was empty and cold. Probably some kind of storeroom in one of the buildings near the palace.

Yin-Yu crouched at a wooden beam to which she had been tied with strong ropes. Because of the extra rope around her neck, it was impossible for her to move her head.

Her gaze wandered up to the ceiling. Everything hurt her, inside or outside. She just felt miserable. It comforted her that he hadn't done anything to her yet, but she was afraid that he wouldn't wait long to do it.

At the next moment she froze when she heard footsteps that were heard behind the door. The peahen held her breath when the door opened. Light fell into the dark room. Yin-Yu was tied up with his back to the door. Presumably he had purposely handcuffed her in this position so that she couldn't look him directly in the face. He knew her well enough that he could use it to scare her extremely well.

Everything remained quiet for a while. She saw the shadow that fell on the wall in front of her. She knew he was there.

Finally, he entered. Her posture cramped. Since their first meeting, he had made her understand that he hated her, or more he cursed her. His presence was always a shadow of disaster for her. No matter what time of day. He had always been cold on her. Even on the wedding night, he acted like it was just everyday routine. Unlike Shen, who had adored her dearly.

The steps fell silent. He was standing next to her now, but in such a way that she could only faintly see him out of the corner of her eye.

"It's been quite a while since we were alone together, isn't it?" He smiled mockingly. She heard how he put his hand out to her and lowered it on her shoulder. She shivered as he rubbed his feather fingers on her.

"One year is short, but too long for me," he continued in a monotonous voice. "But I suppose you had a good time during that time, hadn't you?"

He tightened his grip on her shoulder, which made her gasp.

"Please, let the children go," she asked. "You can do whatever you want with me. But let them go."

"Oh yeah." His fingers dug into her. "I heard you had success in your orgy with him."

He continued to massage his fingers into her shoulder.

"It's a shame that it had to end so tragically."

Yin-Yu gasped with a low whimper. The wound of loss was still too fresh to talk about. But everything sounded like a death threat from Xiang's mouth.

To her relief, but also to her shock, he let go of her and stepped across from her. She had no choice but to look up at him, as she couldn't lower her head because of the rope around her neck.

Xiang folded his wings and looked at her with a neutral expression. "I guess that hurts, doesn't it?"

She swallowed hard. "Why are you talking about it?"

The blue peacock shrugged. "Oh, probably because I helped a little."

She looked at him startled. But Xiang just grinned. "I have caused to destroy your brood."

For a moment, Yin-Yu was numb. She was petrified. When it finally got through to her, she could only breath an incredulous "no".

But Xiang just nodded and Yin-Yu couldn't help but cry. It was like having her heart cut in half. But the blue peacock showed no remorse.

"Now don't get so upset. They certainly didn't feel much. And maybe it was an effort for nothing. But I had to teach you a lesson."

But Yin-Yu stopped listening to him. Xiang didn't seem to care at the moment and didn't care about the lamentation of his ex-wife, who sat there tied up lost and no longer knew what to do with her grief.

"Believe me," he said in an indifferent voice. "I was also hurt by the humiliation you brought me."

He looked at her, but she had just closed her eyes and let her tears run free, but the peacock didn't care.

"Oh, how I cursed the day," he continued relentlessly. "And I can tell you it hasn't been a comfortable time since we split up. My feet still hurt from all that work in the labor camp. Work that was far below my dignity." He put the tips of his feather fingers together. "But I always imagined how I could punish you for it. And your offspring has been just right for me. Pain for pain. I've already inflicted the inner pain on you. Now you have to feel it superficial."

Yin-Yu had slowly recovered a little and managed to formulate a few words again. "Why? Why are you doing this? I never did anything to you!"

Xiang leaned down and clasped her face, looking at her with slight reproach. Then he let his hand slide behind her head and looked coldly into her eyes until a smile crossed his mouth.

"You women act so harmless." Suddenly his feather fingers pierced her head feathers. "But you are not!"

Before Yin-Yu could utter a sound, she cried a choked scream as he jerked his claw forward and squeezed her larynx. She panicked as he began to choke her a little. She was afraid he would suffocate her, but then he let go again, his hand still holding her head, but then his claws pierced her neck feathers instead.

"Stop it, stop it!" She pleaded.

She feared he might scratch her bloody, but he let go of her.

"All right, you'll be punished enough later anyway."

With that, he pulled out a knife and cut her bonds. She landed on the floor crying. Then he circled her like a predator.

Without consideration, he grabbed her neck and pulled her up. As he did so, he let the knife wander down her neck and to her clothes.

"Now look at me at last!" He snapped at her. "I'm still your ex-husband."

Furiously, he tore part of her clothing.

Whimpering, she held her hands protectively in front of her. "No, you can't do that to me!"

"Oh, don't worry," Xiang calmed her in an ominous tone. "That's not what I have in mind. I have planned a completely different role for you."

He threw her away and she landed again roughly on the floor. Then he put one foot on her back and put all of his weight on her lungs. She gasped for breath. She would have had enough strength to defend herself, but Xiang's psychological terror paralyzed her even more than his acts of violence.

He looked down at her imperiously, making sure she was looking at him.

"You will not see the next morning anymore," he threatened icily. "And _he_ neither."


	21. In the crossfire

The goat swayed quietly to and fro. She sat alone in the cage and tried to find inner stability. The whole uncertainty was unbearable for her. Again and again, she wondered how the day would end. She constantly quarreled with herself about looking into the future, but her inner resistance always pushed a warning wedge before her plan.

Suddenly she raised her head. There was a sound. It came from the door. Like the scratching of a knife. She stood up hastily and stared forward. Someone was tampering with the lock. A shadow moved under the door slot.

A cracking noise made the door open. First, the goat was shocked when she saw a bird figure in the door frame. Just when she saw the flash of a feather knife, a burden fell from her soul.

"Shen."

Without a word, the peacock walked up to the cage and smashed the padlock.

"Where are the others?" He asked without asking about their welfare.

"You are very dirty," the goat said worriedly and pushed the cage door open. "Where have you been?"

She picked up a corner of Shen's robe and tried to scrub away a stain.

"Stop it!" With anger, Shen pulled his clothes away from her. "I was just taking a walk through the underground. Above it was a bit too crowded for me. - Where are the others?!"

"As far as I know, he housed everyone on the building site where the palace was. Which you had destroyed."

It sounded like a reproach, but she didn't want to confirm it. There were more important things now.

"But he won't let you near them," the soothsayer warned when Shen tried to run through the door again.

But then Shen turned and rammed his sword into the wooden floor.

"Then he has to step over my corpse first!" the white peacock snapped.

The goat sighed wistfully. "Shen, I'm sure he wouldn't even mind dying - at least after he achieved his goal."

"How do you want to know that?"

She looked at the blue feather that she was still holding in her hoof. "I feel that."

"Quite revealing," Shen growled sarcastically. "But that doesn't get the whole parody any further either."

With that, he drew out the long sword and turned away.

"Good luck, Shen," the soothsayer repeated after him. "I hope the best - for both of you."

Shen stopped and looked at her angrily. "How can you say something like that?!"

A barely visible, shy smile flitted over her. "Maybe because he reminds me of you."

Shen furrowed his eyebrows, but he didn't want a discussion with her and left her with his anger.

* * *

It was a simple thing for Shen to sneak up to the palace construction site unnoticed. He knew every millimeter that had been burned into his brain since his childhood.

The building site was three stories high. The construction work had not gotten any further, as it had already been hard work removing the ruins of the old building. Shen felt a terrible feeling when he remembered how he had bombed the palace with his cannons, only to destroy the panda and his followers.

That panda, Shen growled, but he swallowed down his old anger again. He couldn't afford to distract himself with that now. His thoughts were focused upon only one thing.

Shen was surprised that even though the goat had told him that Xiang would be in this unfinished building, there were any guards to be seen. Why did his rival leave the house unguarded?

But Shen had no other choice. He was alone. He couldn't ask anyone for help. Except the soothsayer... but no, he certainly didn't want her help. In theory, he could have set the building on fire, but that would only endanger his family. He didn't know where and in what condition they were. For a brief moment, Shen really regretted being on his own. But it was his own business.

The white peacock clambered up the scaffolding and climbed the top floor. From here he could see the whole courtyard, and for a moment he was surprised about the large statue of Master Thundering Rhino. But he didn't have time for an analysis. He scurried quickly along the inner wall, where darkness surrounded him. The wooden floors for the floors were only half finished, so that he didn't have to take the stairs. But no sooner had he reached the second unfinished floor than a burning smell rose in his nose. It smelled like metal. Like hot metal.

The lord tightened his eyes. It was pitch black in the construction site building, but Shen didn't mind that much. If the construction workers had stuck to the original, then he knew every beam and every corner. Only the burnt smell was unusual.

Suddenly Shen stopped like thunderstruck.

Not far away from him, a red light glowed in the center of the building. And in front of it stood a barely visible figure. It was just a dark shadow that didn't move.

Step by step, Shen crept closer to the person. It was the silhouette of a peacock.

Shen was about to pull out his feather knife when suddenly...

"I would leave that alone if I were you", a voice stopped him and the other peacock raised his wing admonishingly. Shen froze. Xiang slowly turned to face him. In the red light his plumage appeared almost purple. "I've been expecting you. A little late, but better than never."

Shen hissed loudly. "Give me a reason why I shouldn't hang your dead body over my door!"

Xiang giggled. "You're a joker, I have to say. But let's just drop the curtain."

In the next moment, thick cloths fell on either side of the blue peacock, revealing the inside of the building.

Two chains hung from the ceiling of the second floor to the left and right, with something tied to each end.

"DAD!" When Xia recognized her father, she swung back and forth with Sheng. Both siblings were chained to each other and hung upside down. On the other hand, her mother was tied up in the same way. She just looked a little different. Shen narrowed his eyes. The peahen had covered with something, only it was not immediately recognizable because of the red light. Only when the peacock's eyes had got used to the irritating spectacle, he realized that she had covered with white paint that was still partially dripping down from her. It looked like someone had dipped her in a can of paint.

Xiang saw Shen's confused expression and gave a hoarse chuckle.

"I would say you are a good match now, don't you?"

Shen shivered with anger, but before he could pounce on the sardonic smiling bird, Xiang raised his hands in warning.

"Well, well, well. If you kill me, I'll have to drop them."

He pointed under his feet where he stood on two ends of the chain. Shen's gaze wandered down. A cauldron of hot, molten metal boiled under the prisoners.

Xiang hypocritically rubbed his hands together.

"Well, now what? Who should I drop?" He loosened the chain that Yin-Yu was tied to. "Either your slut. Or your two offspring?"

Shen's gaze wandered between the captured peabirds, but he was hardly ready for such a game.

"Then fight with me."

Xiang smiled. "A nice offer." He gently put his hands together and briefly lowered his gaze, before suddenly lifting it up again. "But I play by my rules!"

He jumped up and fluttered up.

Shen gave a scream as the chains slid away and the prisoners fell.

The white peacock threw himself forward and got hold of the two chains. He quickly pulled them, lifting the three tied up birds more away from the glowing hot mass.

Xiang watched relaxed as the white peacock tried to hold the two chains to avoid them falling into the cauldrons. He strutted slowly along one of the roof beams.

"If you like, you can stay there until the end of your life," he scoffed. "But since my time is also limited, I will of course be happy to help you."

He patted his hands gently and immediately several black-clad Hun soldiers appeared. There were definitely more than 30.

Xiang snapped his fingers once.

Someone fired an arrow that narrowly missed Shen.

Xiang laughed. "Now you can watch how you kill your whole family. Unless you choose one of them. Who do you want to sacrifice?"

Angrily Shen put his legs in the ground, but he looked from Xia and Sheng to Yin-Yu.

"Dad! You don't have to do that!" Xia yelled at him.

Shen snorted loudly, and all his anger was focused on Xiang only, who was not impressed by Shen's anger.

"We're kind of similar. Don't you agree?" Xiang purred coldly. "We have the same mindset. I don't like you. You don't like me."

"For once, I agree with you," Shen growled viciously.

Xiang smiled coldly.

"Then you will understand my thoughts, too. I will erase you. When you are dead, I will turn the remains of your city to rubble and ashes. They will turn to dust like you. Nothing will be left of you. Neither you nor your offspring." He glanced at Shen icily. "I've already shipped your first pack to the afterlife."

Shen pulled hard on the chains and sat up threateningly. "What do you mean by that?"

Xiang's gaze wandered briefly to Yin-Yu, who had let out a loud sob.

"Since your wife is hardly able to say anything anyway, I will give the answer instead of her."

With that, the blue peacock sailed onto the wooden floor across from Shen and waved his wing to someone. A moment later something black fluttered through the air and landed on a beam just above Xiang.

Shen held his breath for a moment when he recognized Takeo. The raven bowed apologetically.

"It wasn't my intention to hurt anyone..."

"Stop your drivel," Xiang interrupted. "You only have to obey my orders. You are obliged to do this."

Takeo nodded ruefully. "Yes, sir."

Xiang wrinkled his beak disparagingly, but left it at another reprimand.

"Takeo was so friendly and did some of my work for me," Xiang explained. "Not only did he make sure your guards had a good night's sleep, but he also..." He purposely took an art break. "... made bringing up children a little easier for you. Honestly. A few fewer children in the world doesn't bother anyone, does it?"

Xiang interrupted himself. The white peacock on the other side looked like he could tear him apart in midair. Xiang looked down a little sheepishly. "You didn't want to hear that, did you?"

Suddenly the white lord gave a cry. He pulled the chains back with him. Then he took out two feather knives and rammed them into the ground where they held the two chains.

Shen had a free run now. He hurled the next knives at Xiang. But before the sharp bullets reached the rival, the knives ricocheted like on an invisible wall. Then something splintered in front of the blue peacock.

Xiang laughed. "That's what I almost thought." He took a few steps towards the scratched invisible wall and stroked it gently.

"Basically, I should thank you. For being in the labor camp, I met a number of clever, even if dirty, creatures who were very inventive and made a material from sand that has never been discovered before. You just have to melt it hot and you can create anything you want out of it. Including walls. I was so free and refined the formula a bit. It's almost indestructible."

He rubbed the shattered solid glass with his feather fingertips.

Shen stood trembling with anger. Xiang's nasty grin made him furious. He threw more knives. The glass shattered dangerously more, but it still withstood the brutal treatment.

Xiang leaned forward and smiled. "Oh, what a shame. You gambled away your joker. I gave you the choice. Now you lose both."

One of the soldiers jumped forward and cut the chain on which Xia and Sheng were hanging.

Shen jumped forward, reached the wooden beam, and got hold of the chain before the two children fell into the hot metal mass.

"Oh!" Xiang's voice was almost compassionate. "That was clear. Then say goodbye to her. Guo. Give her, her cortege."

The ox Guo, who was sitting on the wooden beam over Yin-Yu's chain, swung an ax.

"NO!"

Shen rammed a feather knife into the wooden beam and fixed Xia and Sheng's chain in place. Then he pounced on the ox. But before he could reach him, something hit the white peacock from the side and threw him aside. Shen crashed into the nearest wood wall and fell to the floor, groaning.

Xiang shook his head disapprovingly. "How can you be so blind? Can't you even manage to avoid something?"

Shen tried to straighten up, but the fresh pain paralyzed his body completely. But his anger was still there.

The blue peacock shrugged.

"The day is not getting any younger either. Guo. Let her fall."

"NO! MOTHER!"

Xia and Sheng screamed hysterically when the ox cut the chain with a merciless crack. Yin-Yu only closed her eyes and surrendered herself to death as she fell.

Suddenly something broke through the next wooden wall, caught the falling peahen in free fall and tore her onto the nearest wooden beam.

The person put down the peacock woman in chains and raised his fists in triumph.

"Hey! Would you like a portion of dragon power?"

There was silence for a moment. Po smiled mischievously and gave Xiang a challenging look. "You didn't expect that now, did you?"

Xiang snorted. "I dislike unannounced visitors."

"Oh, really?" Mockingly, Po waved his arms. "And what do you want to do about it now?"

Xiang's eyebrows narrowed. "Throw him out!"

Immediately the black soldiers rushed, but in the next moment five more figures hit the scene and punched their fists. At the same time, other Hun soldiers appeared, who put the opposing army in their place.

Po had rushed to Shen in the meantime, worried that he might have suffered damage from the impact. But Shen had already recovered and glared at the panda.

"Panda! How dare you here...!"

"Yes, yes, yes," Po interrupted and held his beak shut. "You can bend my ears later. Now we should clear a ship first."

He fought off the first soldier and Shen immediately struggled to free Yin-Yu. Tigress and Monkey had already taken Xia and Sheng off the chain and then got involved.

As soon as Shen reached Yin-Yu, he freed her from the chain. The peahen was still a little shocked and the white paint stuck to her plumage.

"Are you okay?" Shen asked worriedly and encompassed her face.

"I'm fine," she gasped. "I... I just feel..."

Shen gave her a quick hug before she started crying.

Xiang, meanwhile, was completely indifferent at first. He hadn't expected so much opposing resistance now. Especially not when suddenly a huge creature jumped next to him.

"Xiang!" The blue peacock ducked his head a little now as King Wang reared up in front of him. "Now you won't escape your punishment so easily again!"

Xiang snorted. "We'll see about that soon!"

Wang couldn't grab the peacock that quickly when he fluttered high up through the next open gap in the roof.

Before that, he turned around again, at the same time Shen looked up at him.

Their eyes met for a fraction. But this was enough to signal just one word, which sent a shiver of fear through Xiang's body.

_Death._


	22. Confrontation between two warlords

No sooner had the blue peacock reached the "roof" of the unfinished palace, he looked around hastily. When he found his destination, he wasted no time. He pushed himself off and glided over the wall and over the roofs with a peacock cry. Shortly afterwards, Shen shot through the planks too, and saw his rival flying towards the East City.

Snorting angrily, the lord tied his long sword on and chased after him.

Xiang heard loud flaps of his wings and turned around briefly. The white lord was close to his trajectory. Xiang growled loudly. None of that was part of his plan, but he still had a plan B - like always.

Before Shen could reach the fugitive, he quickly sat down in an alley between the houses and scurried away.

With a loud thud, Shen came to a halt on a roof and held his sword in an attacking position. His red eyes searched the street. But the blue peacock was nowhere to be seen.

Snorting, Shen slid down from the roof of a lantern shop and stayed there in a crouched position on the floor. He listened. There was no sound. The streets were empty. The city people had already left the city in their panic of new explosions.

After a few seconds, the white lord rose and walked slowly along the houses.

"Are you a coward, too?!" Shen yelled down the alleys. "Fine! Breathe a few seconds longer if you want. But you will not have a short death!"

A period of silence followed.

"Do you think that's really fair?" A voice answered.

Shen narrowed his eyes and stared at a corner a few meters away, where he suspected his rival.

"So easy to kill someone without a decent fight?" Xiang continued in a meek voice, but with a mocking undertone.

The white lord dashed forward and jumped around the corner, but the alley was empty. His peacock tail began to tremble with anger.

"What do you know about fairness?" He hissed and looked around again. "Actually, I should chop off your wings and hang you alive!"

"Oh yes," Xiang continued in another corner. "Okay, it wasn't exactly nice of me to bury your brats in such a rowdy manner. But though... if you haven't got it yet, this is my victory."

Shen let out a disparaging snort.

"How do you not know that it won't be mine?"

It was quiet for a moment. "Do you really want to be like me? You're not even half of me."

Shen sensed a movement at the other end of the street.

Their eyes met. Xiang stood with his hands folded, calmly looking at the white lord.

"Why don't we leave it at that and you give yourself up voluntarily?"

The blue peacock grinned, causing Shen to rage.

He raised his sword and wanted to bring it down on Xiang. But in the next moment, he felt a hard hit on the head and fell unconscious to the floor.

Xiang smiled. "Good job," he praised and kicked away the sword that Shen had dropped.

Two black-clad ox soldiers emerged and grabbed the passed out lord.

"Tie him up there," Xiang ordered, pointing to a pillar of a shop.

Immediately the soldiers set about tying a rope around the peacock and then pressed him against the pillar. There they tied his wings backwards and also fixed his feet firmly. When the work was done, the blue peacock waved his followers away.

"You can leave now. I will ignite the explosive charge now."

The soldiers bowed, then they quickly disappeared.

Meanwhile, the blue lord had found a long fuse between a few boxes. He put the end on one of the boxes and walked back to the trapped white lord, who was slowly coming to. When he finally blinked again, Xiang shook his head in disapproval.

"Stupid chick. You don't seem to understand anything anymore. Well, you should never get carried away like that. You should know that exactly from the war."

He turned away, laughing for a moment, then he looked again at the white peacock.

"Speaking of war, the whole city is under gunpowder. That means I can blow up any part of this house garden at any time. And you will take off with them."

He laughed hoarsely while Shen glared at him bitterly.

"See it as grace. You die where you were born. That's a nice death, isn't it?"

He made a big jump backwards and grabbed the fuse that was attached to the gunpowder under the houses.

"I wish you a nice flight to heaven!"

With that, he lit the fuse, got up and left the white peacock alone in his predicament.

Xiang flew over the houses until he was sure he was in the next safe zone. There he sat down on one of the rooftops and waited for the big bang.

The fuse wasn't very long. It wouldn't be long before it exploded.

He waited. One minute, two minutes...

"What…?"

Xiang frowned. Why did nothing happen?

"Are you waiting for fireworks?"

Xiang turned around with shock, when he heard the voice of the white warlord behind him. Shen stood one step up on a roof and stared down at the blue peacock.

First, Xiang couldn't understand anything. "How are you...?"

"Got out that quickly?" Shen raised the corners of his mouth. "Cutting the ropes was easy."

He raised one of his feather knives.

"Only the preliminary work was a little more difficult."

Xiang backed away a little.

"While you were waiting for me," Shen continued in a firm, dark voice. "I spent the day to relay the fuses. I know every corner and every hiding place in that city. Including the underground where you store the powder kegs. I cut the fuses of every gunpowder charge and placed them somewhere else."

A bitter, cold smile crossed his mouth.

"That means that _I_ am the only one who is able to activate the explosive charges. You're just a decoration in town. You have chosen the wrong city for your plans."

He watched with great satisfaction as Xiang turned a little pale around the beak. He stood there in disbelief while Shen cracked his feather fingers and dug his claws into the roof tiles.

"Well, where did we leave off a few minutes ago?"

He pulled out his long sword.

"Oh yes." The white lord looked at his reflection in the metal. "Wasn't there a talk of a cleaning campaign?"

Xiang jumped aside and wanted to fly away. But Shen reacted quickly and slammed the hilt of the sword brutally into Xiang's back. The blue peacock rushed to the ground, but was just able to roll over before Shen could stab him with his sword.

But Xiang did not have time to flee. Shen kept attacking him, and he kept dodging. Whenever he tried to fly away, the white lord stood in his way.

In the end, Xiang had no choice but to defend himself and grabbed a pole, that was actually used to hold cooking kettles. That didn't give him much superiority in this fight, but it prevented a fatal blow from the sharp blade. But not forever.

Shen was so enraged that he resorted to whatever means possible to weaken the blue lord in his defense. When he threw a load of sand in his face, that inattentive fraction was enough. Xiang cried out when the sharp metal hit his arm. Shen paused for a moment when his rival dropped to his knees and held his arm. He could have rammed the rest into his heart right now, but he didn't want a quick death for him. He wanted to see him suffer. As long as he could.

Xiang pulled his hand back, which had covered in blood. As he stared at the red paint, he began to tremble and his eyes widened with horror. But the cut on his arm sparked anger in him now, too.

"It surprises me that you have so much left for this bitch!" He snapped and grabbed the pole again and hit the white peacock several times, who held his sword like a protective shield over himself. With the next blow, he pushed Xiang away and made him scream again when his next arm also received a cut.

The blue lord dropped the pole again and held both arms. The wounds weren't deep, but it looked terrible on his pure blue feathers. And his robe was soaked in the red paint.

Without remorse, the lord swung his sword forward, where the tip stopped a few millimeters from Xiang's neck. Sobering, Xiang took a few steps backwards.

Both stared at each other. Everyone with the same devastating thought as fire and water. Each wanted to obliterate the other. If looks could have killed, each of them would have crumbled to ashes long ago.

Xiang ducked his head a little and began to breathe loudly and fitfully.

"If I were you, I'd better be careful that she doesn't stab you secretly in bed while you're sleeping," he gasped and let out a throaty, hoarse chuckle, showing his blood-smeared hands. "Because something like that can happen at any time."

The blue peacock's eyes widened and he looked as if he was short of breath. He held his throat briefly and gasped for air. But all this lasted only a brief moment. Then he dashed off.

Shen let out a scream and kicked all of his energy against Xiang. The blue lord was hurled with tremendous force against a house wall, which collapsed with a crash. After the dust cleared, Shen brought down another wall. The wall hit the floor next to Xiang, but caught his legs.

The blue peacock screamed in pain. He tried to pull himself out of the heavy stone rubble, but his foot was trapped.

Without paying any more attention to the fallen peacock, Shen walked past him and picked something up from the ground behind a barrel.

Xiang watched in horror as Shen held up the fuse.

"Now it's my victory."

He took out a match.

"When you go to the realm of the spirits, I swear to you, I will continue to chase you there."

He set the cord on fire. Then Shen dropped the fuse to run away.

But Xiang's convulsive spirit was far from broken. He found a couple of ropes next to him. He quickly grabbed it and threw it like a lasso at the white peacock.

The first noose went around Shen's neck, pulling him back down.

Xiang pulled hard and looped the next few loops around the wings, then around his legs.

Shen fell to the ground, but immediately picked himself up and tried to pull away.

"If I go down," Xiang yelled at him. "Then you go down with me, too!"

Shen's gaze fell on the fuse. But the fire had long since disappeared into the earth. He couldn't erase it anymore. The new fuse was longer, but he couldn't win any time forever. He tried to reach his feather knives in the wing, but Xiang wrapped more and more ropes around him so that he could no longer move. No matter what he did, he couldn't touch the knives. After all, there was only one option left to him. He threw himself forward at Xiang. But he fended him off with his wings and gave the white lord a good deal of blows.

"We can go on in the afterlife!" Xiang roared. "But then your slut won't have anything from you anymore."

"Shen? Shen?"

The white lord looked up in surprise when the familiar figure of a familiar panda appeared. When Po saw Shen well, he breathed a sigh of relief.

"Phew, I thought it would be worse..."

"PANDA! EVERYTHING EXPLODES ANY MOMENT!" Shen yelled at him.

Po froze. "Oh, that's bad, of course."

He watched anxiously as Shen pulled the ropes that Xiang was still holding tightly.

"Don't worry," Po called. "I was top of the class in the tug war."

But before he could lay hands on the tied peacock, Xiang pelted the panda with stones.

"Ouch, hey, hey!"

Panic rose in Shen. According to his calculation, the fuse was already over halfway through. It would be seconds now before the explosion.

At that moment, Po saw something flash on the floor. Shen's sword. Po didn't think twice and grabbed it. Then he made a run-up and let the sharp instrument of war crash down on the ropes.

When Xiang saw, what the panda was up to do, it was too late.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

The ropes broke. Shen fell backwards and felt himself being carried away by a tall person. The rest perished in a deafening bang.


	23. Clouds of smoke

The friends looked up, startled. Tigress was the first one who rose from the crowd. In the meantime, they had got the enemy army under control when suddenly the ground trembled beneath their feet.

"PO!"

Tigress took a giant leap and landed on the palace wall. In the distance houses had collapsed with a loud rumble and moaning and disappeared in a thick cloud of dust.

The other four jackknifed after her and stared ahead in disbelief.

"Po wasn't there, was he?" Viper asked anxiously.

In the next moment, the furious Five felt loud wing beats next to them. Xia and Sheng had landed on the palace wall, too. Both got a bad feeling.

"Father?..."

The rest of the words of her question stuck in Xia's throat. Everyone knew that Shen had followed Xiang. Only one of them could have caused the explosion.

Sheng set up his peacock comb and tried to see something in the thick smoke in the distance.

"What happened?!"

Everyone stared at Yin-Yu in horror. The peahen was still covered over and over with half-dried white paint that had stuck all of her plumage together. She was extremely restricted in flying, but that didn't stop her from coming up to them.

"Mother, I don't know," Xia tried to downplay her concern, but she was unsuccessful.

"I'll check now!"

With these words Tigress jumped off the wall and raced from one roof to the next to the scene of the accident. Her friends followed her as fast as they could.

Sheng immediately flew after them. Xia wanted to go after him until she remembered her mother.

"Mother, you stay here."

"No! I need to know what happened!"

"You can't fly in this state..."

But her mother just pushed her aside and swept over the rooftops, albeit somewhat with awkward flaps of her wings.

First, Xia looked after her in amazement. Then she rose into the air as well, heading straight for the remaining cloud of dust.

* * *

"Po!? Po! Po!"

The five kept calling their friend. They had reached the edge of the rubble and were feverishly looking for a sign of life.

"FATHER!" Sheng and Xia shouted now, too.

And her mother couldn't suppress a helpless shout either. "Shen!"

Everyone carried hope and deepest concern around with themselves. Especially the extreme silence gave them a cold chill. In addition, the visibility was quite low because of the dust that was still blowing up. You could only see a few meters clearly.

During a pause, the group huddled together and listened.

There was just silence again. As if the world had held its breath in horror after the bang.

"Hey, friends."

All faces turned to the left, where in a wall of dust the outlines of a large figure became visible, moving with difficulty.

"Could someone call the fire department?" The voice gasped on. "I think someone left something burned in the kitchen."

The person, who turned out to be a panda and a peacock, fell to the ground with a cough.

"PO!"

Immediately the friends flung their arms around their panda friend's neck while the three peacock birds threw themselves on the immobile figure of Shen.

"Shen! Shen!"

Xia and Sheng let their mother through. With trembling hands, she straightened Shen's head. But after some gasping, the white lord slowly came to.

He blinked up at Yin-Yu, which took a great burden off his shoulders to see everyone safe and sound.

Still a little dazed, Shen took her wing in his. After so much extreme excitement what he didn't have to endure every day, her presence in the dirt and dust was pure relaxation.

"Did you see the explosion?" Po's excited voice interrupted the moment of reunion. "Wow, that might have been loud."

He wiped his ear theatrically. "I think I'll be running around half deaf for a while."

The five couldn't suppress an amused laugh.

"Dragon warrior?!"

Everyone raised their heads in surprise. In the next moment, not only King Wang appeared, but also the soothsayer.

"Shen, you are fine," the goat said with relief.

The white peacock rose quickly and brushed off his clothes. "I don't know why you have to worry about me."

"I didn't say anything about that," she said with a smile.

Shen paused. "But you thought so."

"But we were worried!" Xia cut him off.

Shen wasn't angry with her and sighed with a smile. "The main thing is that nothing happened to you."

Xia looked down. She was close to tears, but suppressed them in time.

The white lord's eyes slid over his family.

Sheng didn't say anything, but his gaze was evicted of a peaceful calm and his father nodded gratefully to him for his silent gesture. But then he could no longer hold it back and spread his arms, which he wrapped around all three of them. He couldn't close it all the way, but it was enough for everyone.

"I'm just glad that I didn't lose you."

"Father."

Xia and Sheng returned the unfamiliar hug immediately, only Yin-Yu hesitated a little.

But before anyone could wonder at her behavior, Wang asked a question which no one had asked before.

"Where is Xiang?"

Everyone turned to where traces of the explosion still rose in the sky. Po stood up sadly. "Unfortunately, I couldn't do anything. The time was too short for that."

His gaze looked at Yin-Yu. "I'm sorry."

The peahen's eyes went to the ground. Shen felt her shiver and put a hand over her shoulder.

Tigress had less understanding. "Maybe it's the best for him."

"We'll take care of his dead body," Wang said finally. "Would that be okay for you?"

By that he meant Yin-Yu. The peahen looked up at him, then she nodded to him. She stroked her head hastily. "I'm sorry. It's all so much today..."

"I can imagine," the soothsayer said and looked around. "I think we should go to the residence. You can rest there. And maybe washing, too."

Po looked down at himself. "Is it already Sunday today?"

* * *

The residence, more precisely a guest residence, had located right next to the palace wall. It had once been a kind of guest house when the palace had more than a few visitors, such as for large celebrations. Now it was mostly empty. Since Shen's parents died, there have been not many colorful, fun celebrations in town anymore.

Po and Shen had separate rooms where they could get rid of the dust. Po finished faster than Shen because the lord preferred a total cleaning in a bath, which was to be expected given his status. In contrast to Po. A wet sponge and knocking out his pants were all what he needed. As soon as he had finished with his quick cleaning, he stormed out of the room and ran to the large kitchen, where he assumed his friends.

The soothsayer met him halfway. In her hooves, she held a folded silver robe.

"Ready so quickly, great warrior?" She asked with amusement.

Po spun on his heel and walked backwards. "Oh yeah. I have to inspect the kitchen. There could be a few bad boys lurking around. See you."

It was only his growling stomach that lured him into the pantry. Because he hadn't eaten much on their way to Gongmen City. At least not by panda standards.

Smiling, the old goat continued on her way and stopped in front of a room door where Shen was staying.

She knocked gently, then she opened the door and peeked in.

"Are you ready?"

There was a lightning-fast movement in the room. Shen was going out of a bathtub. With anger, he tore a long cloth from its holder and threw it quickly over his dripping wet plumage.

"Can't you wait?!" he scolded.

She giggled and entered. It hadn't been her intention to catch him off guard like that. Or maybe she had somehow instinctively worried that he might have passed out. It had happened to him quite a lot as a young child. His weaknesses were even chronically for a while. Now he was an adult, but it never became second nature of her. Somehow, he was still like a helpless child to her who didn't know which direction it should go.

"I'm sorry," she quickly apologized. "I haven't thought about that."

Shen rubbed his feathers dry sullenly. It had to be an elderly disease to see any middle-aged man as a toddler.

"I brought you something."

With that she put the silver robe on a table.

Shen looked at the garment in surprise.

"Where did you get that?"

The goat put her hooves together. "It comes from your closet." She looked down. "Before you had to leave town. Your parents kept it all the years."

He took it in silence with still damp feather fingers and looked at it thoughtfully.

It didn't even have moth tracks. Had they perhaps even glanced at it now and then, just to have something of him around at least?

He shook his head quickly as the soothsayer watched him and pulled it on hastily.

It fit perfectly.

For a while neither of them knew what to say and the goat took the beginning off of him.

"Your wife is two rooms down. If you want to talk to her."

Shen sighed and smoothed a sleeve. "I wonder why she didn't take a bath with me."

He stopped. Angrily, he looked at the goat, who had slipped a slight smile over her mouth.

"That's private! Alright?" Shen hissed at her.

The goat turned. "So if you want to ask her, then ask her."

With that she went out through the door. Shen paused in the same place for a moment, then he left the room, too. From there he went two doors further and paused for a while. After thinking a few words, he knocked.

"Yin-Yu? It's me. May I come in?"

He listened. But to his surprise, he received no answer. Perhaps she had already gone out?

He knocked again, then he pushed the door open.

There were also a large bathtub and bathing suits in the room, but without a person in it. Shen was about to turn around when his gaze caught something in a corner.

First, he thought, it was just a mountain of clothes. But then he recognized a peahen who had wrapped herself in a bath towel.

"Honey, what's wrong?"

He came closer quickly. Only now, Yin-Yu seemed to have noticed him and jerked her head up. A few lumps of white paint still hung on her face. She had tried to scrub the paint out of her feathers. The bath water was completely white. Anger rose again in Shen. He would have loved to cut out Xiang's heart in the aftermath.

"It's not that important," Yin-Yu said, wiping his cheeks. But it wasn't just bath water that wet her face.

Shen raised his eyebrows. "You cried. Why?"

The peahen pulled the bath towel tighter around her body.

"It was my fault," she whispered.

"Fault?" At first Shen didn't understand what she meant by that. "What should you be to blame for?"

She looked up at him. She was about to burst into tears again.

"I shouldn't have kept him alive..."

Her voice broke off with a low sob.

Gradually the white peacock understood what she meant and bent down to her.

"No, it wasn't your fault. It was his. It was just him."

Again, Yin-Yu buried her face in the bent wings.

Shen knelt in front of her and put his hands on her shoulders. But he kept silent at first and hugged her deeply.

"He was my husband," he heard her muffled, tearful voice beneath her plumage.

He began to stroke her back. "I know."

He intensified his embrace. Inwardly, it was no different for him. He didn't want to express his thoughts, but Yin-Yu did.

"If he had been dead one year ago," she whimpered, taking repeated strong breaths. "Then none of this would have happened."

Shen screwed up his eyes. Basically, it was a truth, what she said, but yet...

He took a deep breath. Then he touched her face and lifted it up with firm but gentle grips.

"Listen to me," he began and looked sternly into her eyes. "No matter what you did, he was the only one who caused the disaster. The water is innocent, but it's the wind that stirs it up."

He pressed his forehead to hers.

"It was just him. Only him. You were just his victim. What he took advantage of."

He felt her tears again, dripping onto the floor. Instinctively, he tightened his hand on her face. "It was just him."

She suppressed her crying. And he felt it. Nevertheless, she still found the strength to put her wings on his shoulders and both remained in the head-to-head sitting position.

"Hey! Look what they gave to me!"

In the next moment the door swung open and Po jumped into the room. When he saw the two birds sitting together in a corner, he immediately froze and fell into a contrite posture.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to disturb..."

"Panda!" Shen yelled at him, pulling his wife up quickly.

Hastily Yin-Yu released herself from Shen's embrace and wiped the remaining tears from her face.

"No, no you didn't disturb," she said in a shaky voice. "I better go now. I think you still have something to discuss."

With that she passed the panda, who was still shamefaced, and she left the room. When Po looked into Shen's angry face, he wanted to retreat quickly.

"Well, I ... I better go too..."

"Panda! What do you want?!"

Po rubbed his fingers ruefully. "Uh, well... a soldier gave that to me."

With that he produced something long, metallic.

It was Shen's sword.

For a very short moment the peacock forgot his anger. But then he remembered the rowdy entry of the black and white fur ball and walked up to him.

Po smiled pained. "It survived the explosion unscathed..."

With a quick flick of his wing, Shen snatched it from his hand.

Po was still ashamed of his behavior and took a step back.

"Well, it was a useful thing."

The white lord screwed up his eyes angrily. Then he turned his back on him and looked at the window.

"If you have nothing else to say," Shen finally began after a brutal minute of silence. "Then you can leave again."

Po might have complied with this request, but there was still something heavy on his soul that he wanted to get rid of immediately.

"Listen, if you still... if you still hate me, then I wanted... I just wanted to say that..."

Shen didn't look at him. He just kept staring at the window.

Finally, Po couldn't take it any longer and let out a deep wistful sigh. "I had tried to save them. I'm so sorry. But... I should have been more careful. If I had known that Xiang would have been around, I would have taken him into custody."

"How do you know all that, panda?" Shen hacked bitterly.

"Um... well, that was again..."

"She?"

Po nodded. Knowing well that he could only mean the soothsayer.

"Why doesn't that surprise me?" the white lord growled. He impaled the lance-like sword on the ground and pressed his forehead against the hilt of it.

"Are we...?" Quickly Po swallowed down the word "friends". "Uh... is it peace again... between us?"

Shen's eyes moved back to him slightly. He hung like in the air. For the first time, in his emotional chaos, he had no answer.

At that moment someone knocked on the door frame, because the door was still open and King Wang entered the room.

"Oh, Wang, hey, buddy!" Po greeted.

But this time the king of the Huns did not return the greeting, which surprised Po extremely.

Instead, he walked past the panda with firm steps and placed himself next to the lord.

Shen raised his head in disinterest. Then Wang leaned over and whispered something to him.

Shen jerked to a stand with his back straight.

"Uh... what's going on?" the panda asked.

First, the white ruler was silent. Then he slowly turned to face the panda. There was a darkness in his eyes with a deep furrow on his forehead.

With confusion, Po looked from one to the other.

"Is anything wrong?" Po asked worriedly.

But Shen just pushed him aside and rushed out through the door.

Po looked after him with a question mark on his face, then his eyes wandered to the King of the Huns, who looked more than gloomy.

"What happened?" Po repeated his question.

King Wang cleared his throat briefly before he gave the answer.

"Xiang survived."


End file.
